NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL

REPRESENTATION IN BAI JUYI'S "SONG OF ETERNAL

SORROW"

by

Xiru Wang

A thesis is submitted in conformity with the requirements

for the degree of Master of Art

Graduate Department of the East Asian Studies

University of Toronto

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NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL REPRESENTATION IN

BAI JUYI'S "SONG OF ETERNAL SORROW" Xiru Wang Master of Arts Thesis, November 2008 Graduate Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto

The subject of my dissertation is the narratological analysis of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow." Drawing on Gerard Genette's theory, I include three elements of narrative analysis: point of view, characterization, and sequential structure. The purposes of my analysis are to examine the development of narrative characteristics, primarily the relationship between the fictional narratives and the historical narratives, in Chinese narrative poetry, and to explore the interplay of narrative elements between poetry and other literary genres.

My research makes contributions to three areas: it evaluates the place of Tang dynasty narrative poetry in the development of Classical Chinese narrative tradition; it compares the relationship between fictional narrative and historical narrative; and it appraises the influence of narrative poetry on other literary genres. The examination of the narrative characteristics in poetry can help us to further understand the interplay between narrative poetry with other literary genres in Chinese poetic tradition.

11 Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Professor Graham

Sanders for his supervision, inspirations, and encouragements during my one year

M.A study in the Department of East Asian Studies at University of Toronto.

I would like also to express my gratitude to Professor Daniel J. Bryant at

University of Victoria for his help in many ways. It is him, who inspired my interests in the field of Pre-modem Chinese Literature, encouraged and introduced me to the advanced studies in the field.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my father Mr. Xuanen Wang for

:£ m. iS his support, as well as my mother Ms. Ying Luo §? ^ for her encouragements in my life.

in Table of Contents

Abstract ii

Acknowledgements Hi

Table of Content iv

Chapter 1 Introduction: Theoretical Background 1

1.1 The Features of Narrative poetry 1

1.2 Fictional Narrative versus Historical Narrative 6

1.3 The Purpose of Narrative 13

Chapter 2 The Analysis of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" 19

2.1 Introduction and Synopsis 19

2.2 "Song of Eternal Sorrow"'s Artistic Characteristics and Social

Effects 22

2.3 The difference between the fictional approach and the historical

approach 35

Chapter 3 Narratological Analysis 39

3.1 Introduction 39

3.2 Point of View 40

3.3 Characterization 49

3.4 Sequential Structure 57

3.5 Imagery and Metaphors 62

Chapter4 Comparative Studies 66

4.1 From The Joyful Kingdom to "Song of Eternal Sorrow" 66

iv 4.2 Comparison with "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal

Sorrow'" 72

4.3 Comparison with The Palace of Eternal Youth 78

4.4 Comparison with "The Tale of Yingying" 79

4.5 Comparison with Japanese Noh Play Yokihi 81

4.6 Conclusion 82

Bibliography 85

Appendix Translation and Chinese Texts 89

V Chapter One: Introduction: Theoretical Background

I. The Features of Narrative poetry

Narrative poetry has played an important role in the development of Chinese literature, it has been greatly influenced by the lyrical tradition in Chinese poetry.

However, it differs from the lyrical poetry1 in its linguistic features. Lyrical poetry is characterized by the imagistic language in composition, while the language in narrative poetry is more propositional. Imagistic language needs no specific referee, its syntax is discontinuous, and restrained from temporal reference. In contrast, proposition language requires the presence of an agent as a background for the narrative development, it syntax is continuous, and it context tends to be embedded within a temporal sequence.2 In other words, lyricism in Chinese narrative poetry is embedded with narrative features, which are different from lyricism in lyrical poetry.3

Lyric poetry refers to either poetry that has the form and musical quality of a song, or a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or may not be set to music. An example would be a piece of song lyrics, which expresses sentimental feelings and could be performed to an audience. Comparing with lyrical poetry, narrative poetry has the following features: First of all, Narrative poetry is simply poetry which tells a story. The length of the poem may be short or long, and the content of the story may be simple or complex. Narrative poems include epics,

' Lyrical Poetry: (ci If). Ci is a genre of poetry which came into existence in T'ang dynasty. It became an important vehicle for lyrical poetry during the Five Dynasties (907-960) and Song dynasty (960-1278). The word ci means no more than 'words for singing,' and it is used to designate poetry written to existing music. 2 See Gao Yukong and Mei Zulin, "Syntax, Diction and Imagery in T'ang Poetry," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Stuidesl] (1971):pp.49-136. 3 See Dore. J Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry: the Late Han Through T'ang Dynasties (Durham: Duke Unversity Press, 1988), pp.25-27.

1 2

ballads, and idylls, and the best example is Bai Juyi's (ErlJItla) "Song of Eternal

Sorrow" ("Changhen Ge"J|'[;|§U0, as a piece of Music Bureau Poetry.,4 it tells a story of the tragic imperial romance between Tang Emperor Xuan-zong with his beloved concubines Lady Yang. Secondly, Narrative poetry is among the oldest, and perhaps the oldest genre of poetry. Much of the earliest literary works we have from many literatures are derived from the oral tradition. Oral tradition is a medium for a society to transmit knowledge, such as history and literature, across generations without recorded in writing. The method of transmitting cultural material is through vocal utterance, in order to preserve the material and handed it down to later generations.

Much of narrative poetry is performance poetry and has its source in an oral tradition.

For instance, some of the poems from The Classics of Poetry (Shi Jing I^g) were originally intended for recitation, rather than reading. In many cultures, there remains a lively tradition of the recitation of traditional tales in verse form. It has been suggested that some of the distinctive features that distinguish poetry from prose, such as meter and rhyme, at one time served as memory aids that allowed the narrator who recites traditional tales to reconstruct them from their memories.

Some narrative poems take the form of a novel in verse. An example of this is the

Tale ofYingying f|flt{l|by Yuan Zhen, who is a contemporary and friend of Bai Juyi.

In terms of narrative poetry, a romance is basically a narrative poem that tells a story of chivalry. Examples include Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" and "Ballad of

4 Music Bureau Poetry: (Yuefushi ^Jfff§rf) (eir. 12lh - 7th centuries B.C.) refers to songs collected and edited by the Emperor Wu of Han (157-87 B.C), as well as later folk songs of a common nature. 5 The Classics of Poetry: (Shi Jing |f $M) is a collection of over three hundreds poems from the Zhou dynasty (1020-249 B.C.). 3

pi-pa." Although these examples use historical and biographical materials as background, the fictional material of the romance also occupies an important space for composition. Fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes. It may also include real people, places, and events. Fiction may be either written or oral. For example, most of fictional anecdotes of the strange and extraordinary from Liao Zhai 's Record of Wonders {Liao Zhai Zhi Yi WW^^:) are collected from oral materials and then recorded and revised in writing form by the author Pu Songling M¥£H& (1640 - 1715). The ability to create fictional works is considered to be a fundamental aspect of human culture, one of the defining characteristics of humanity. Let us know examine some of the essential characteristics of fictional composition:

First of all, point of view is the related experience of the narrator in literature and oral performance. There can be various points of view in a given narrative: first-person, second-person, or third person. A narrator is an entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. The narrator exists within the context of the story, although in non-fiction the narrator and the author can share the same persona, the narrator presents the story in a way the reader can understand. However, the narrator is not necessarily to be identical with the author who rarely inserts his own voice directly into the narrative. In narrative poetry, the third person omniscient point of view is commonly used as: "She is, they went," etc. A third person omniscient narrator can shift focus from character to character with knowledge of everyone's

6 Liao-zhai's Record of Wonders: (Liao Zhai Zhi Yi l|fffJSJS), is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling during the early Qing Dynasty. It was written in Classical Chinese rather than Vernacular Chinese. 4

thoughts and of events of which no single character would be aware. The poem often creates a third-personal narrator to tell the story. The ability to use points of view effectively indicates the level of the poet's compositional ability.

Secondly, characterization is one of the fundamental elements of narrative composition. A character is an agent in the story, and it is usually a person, but may be of any identity or entity whose existence originates from a real account or a fictional performance. For example, in Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow", the poet dramatizes the romance between two historical figures, Emperor Xuan-zong and his favorite concubine Lady Yang. The development of story relied heavily on implicit characterization which reflects through the protagonists' inner dialogue. Such psychological monologue indirectly characterizes the protagonists so that the audience is drawn into their inner turmoil as they are slowly revealed through the development of time and space. In explicit characterization, the choice of what aspects of a character is demonstrated by the narrator's direct description through vocal utterance. Example of direct characterization can be found in Bai Juyi's biographical "Ballad of pi-pa." Bai Juyi himself as the narrator revitalizes the generalized role of the musician by his insightful up-to-date observation and description of the protagonist's tragic life experience. Both implicit and explicit characterization in narrative composition can result in a stereotypical and simple character. Conversely, both direct and indirect characterization can make complex and unique characters depending on the choices made by the author. 5

Finally, without detailed classification of narrative structure, we cannot fully understand the complexity of the technique of sequencing in Chinese narrative.

There are two types of temporal sequence: chronological and anachronic. Events are organized according to their time order is defined as chronological. For instance, in

Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow", the events are gradually developed through the passing of time. Events are not organized in time order is defined as either anachronies or chronological deviation8. Anachronies allow events to move back and forth between present and past freely, therefore, the movements of events are performed dynamically. In the history of Chinese narrative poetry, the poetry gradually displays an advanced level of complexity in terms of using anachronism. In a non-temporal sequence, events are not organized through a regular sequence, such as cardinal points and astronomical patterns, which are used to organized events into non-temporal sequence.9 Genereally speaking, there are four major elements used to order events in non-temporal sequence in Chinese narrative poetry. Firstly, different parts of the human body as the order of sequence, such as the description of a palace beauty's outward appearance is usually depicted from the large body part hand, leg,

For example, the terminologies which refer to textual structure in Chinese novel are: order (cixu ?X fJO, sequence (cidi ^KM), arrangement (pailie §ffil), complementary narrative (pushu $f|£), forward narration {shunshu IllltfJO, backward narration (daoshu ^H£), follow-up narration (zhuishu j||M), advance insertion (daocha Jljflt), peripheral narration (jiadai ^t^p), simultaneous narration (Jianshu ^ Mi), and so on7. In general, there are two major categories of sequential structure in Chinese narrative poetry: temporal and non-temporal. In a temporal sequence, events are organized and developed according to their temporal orders. 8 For a definition and discussion of these two terms, see Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse, pp 35-47; see also Bal, Narratology, pp 83 - 97. 9 Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse Translated by Jane E. Lewin. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980. 6

skin, to detailed facial feature such as eyes, teeth, mouth, etc,. Secondly, the technique of using different landscapes or geographical locations to indicate sequence is a principle vehicle of sequencing in narrative poetry. The third element evolves different description of the same figure. The last element is to use the cardinal point to construct a sequence. In short, the technique of non-temporal sequencing in Chinese narrative poetry originated in the Classics of Poetry and later becomes one of the writing techniques in the principle of Rhapsody {fu K)10, as it discussed by ancient

Chinese entities.

II. Fictional Narrative Versus Historical Narrative

Narrative poetry was less developed in traditional Chinese literature than in other

parts of the world." Chinese literary tradition emphasizes on "speaking of the

intention ffW^S'2" or "conveying emotion fj==;[flf." Lyrical poetry occupies a

large corpus in traditional literary criticism, the development of narrative poetry is

inadequate because of a lacking of a principle of mimesis in traditional Chinese

literary criticism. However, despite the difficulty to develop an adequate narrative

theory in the early period, an important narrative tradition in poetry did exist.

The historical poems in the Classic of Poetry are characterized by the narrative

techniques in their composition. Some of the Han dynasty Music Bureau Poetry

10 Rhapsody: ( fu |^), a highly irregular form of poetry mid-way between shi and prose and generally characterized by detailed description of objects and scenes. 1' The best book about Chinese narrative verse in a Western Language is Dore J. Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry, Durham, 1988, which takes the history of the subject up to the Tang period. 12 Speaking of intention: (Shi Yan Z/H'frfJl'SO. refers to a statement fist found in The Institute ofYao (Yao Dian f§ £&) chapter of the Classic of History, parts of which may date from early in the Western Zhou dynasty. From a Confucian moral and didactical point of view, it supposed to mean that poetry is an expression of the inner moral and ethical intentions, an idea very similar to the concept of literature as a vehicle of the Confucian way. Translation see Stephen, Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, p65-6. 7

represents the most important development of narration in the verse of that period.

Narrative poetry developed to its first high point in the Tang Dynasty, with Bai Juyi's

continuous contribution on the development of Music Bureau Poetry, narrative

poetry transforms the critical tradition from "writing directly about event" (zhishu

qishi plLilf JClPO13 into promoting the idea of "singing directly about events" (zhige qtshi mmnm.y4

Most of the Tang narrative poems were derived from historical accounts, the

poets related current political events in their composition in order to express their

feelings and emotions. In addition, there was no clear distinction between historical

narratives with fictional narratives during the period. Both of the historical and

fictional elements were interwoven together within a single narrative poem, in order

to reflect the poet's idea on the political as well as the social issues. For instance,

Bai's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" is about the tragic romantic affair between the Tang

emperor Xuanzong with his favorite concubine Lady Yang Yuhuan. "Ballad of pi-pa"

is the tragic experience of an aging female pi-pa musician in a chaotic society. Both

of the stories focused on the narration of tragic destiny of the protagonist affected by

the social uncertainty, both of them portrayed a heroine character's waxing and

waning life experience, and both of them expressed the poet's opinion towards the

issue of social justice. In short, historical and social materials provide resources for

narrative composition, in which the poet can directly express his idea and feeling

related with his own situation. In other words, the poet's intention is not just about

13 Writing directly about events: (zhishu qishi [Slr^P). This phrase occurs in Zhong Rong's discussion of fit Pit a term associated with narration. 14 Singing directly about events: (zhige qishi HOR^lfl). See Bai )uyi, Xin YuefuXu ff^JfW. 8

recording and extending historical events, is it about transforming the events by his

own nature and emotion.

Because both contexts in historical narrative and in fictional narrative focus on

the mimesis of action, it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between the two

genres. The extensive overlapping of works in these two categories can be found in

most traditional bibliographical groupings. This is because in traditional China, most

of the literati were engaged both in historical and fictional narrative compositions,

the author of the literary work may be a historian and a poet at the same time.

Therefore, we can discover fictional elements in some of the important historical

works, such as Sima Qian's W]JS21 the Record of Grand Historian (shiji jfelB) >

the historical source is greatly indebted to pseudo-historical materials from Wu Yue

Chun Qiu ^MM^kH'• Meanwhile, we can also trace out the historical elements in

most of the fictional compositions. Such as in Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow",

the fictional romance between emperor Xuanzong with Lady Yang is extended from

real historical account. In short, the concept of truth and creativity becomes more

subjective and more relative to each other in a historical or fictional composition, the

sense of what is recorded to be ultimately true or absolutely fictive becomes less

reliable in literary works.

By injecting fictional elements, such as legend or hearsay, into historical

composition, it might trigger the reader's interest and common knowledge about the

15 The Records of the Grand Historian: {Shiji S^lfi). written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow emperor until his own time. As the first systematic Chinese historical text, the Records profoundly influenced Chinese historiography and prose. 16 The Spring and Autumn Annals ofWu and Yue: (Wu Yue Chun Qiu ^MM-W), a historical record of the states of Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn period, attributed to Zhao Ye Sff • 9

story. Therefore, the reader may pay more attention on reading the work as well as on acknowledging the historian, the historiography can then be handed down to later generations. By extending a historical anecdote into a fictional narrative story, such as the emperor's romance or the dynasty's rebellion, it will enhance the feeling and emotion revealed through the imaginative composition. As a result, the fictional work will evoke the reader's resonance towards the dramatic experience of the historical characters in their story.

In traditional Chinese poetry, there exists a strong sense personal existence in history. Chinese poet's self-consciousness was established through examining great historical figures' past experience in order to benefit from the heroic deeds and admonish careless mistakes. They modeled Confucian's exemplary conducts and sighed for the dynasty's downfall. Poems expressing such sentiments are usually regarded as "poems recalling antiquity" {huaigushi IfflS'ff). Poems that focus on the expression of inner feeling and emotion are usually regarded as "poems of sentiment" (ganshangshi ll|t§i#). Bai Juyi not only categorized his "Song of Eternal

Sorrow" as a poem of sentiment, but also placed great emphasis on the emotion expressed through the narration of historical romance. Therefore, the poem can also be a poem of antiquity, despite the interweaving of fictional and historical elements together into the composition.

The difference between the poem of antiquity and the poem of sentiment is, the former aims at the didactic function of moral instruction and social comment, while the latter aims at the self-expression of feeling and emotion. They both differ from 10

the "poem on history" {yongshishi W$LW), which use some historical events as a metaphor for commenting on contemporary recurrent political affairs. Poems on history tend to emphasize on the vanity of human endeavors either by comparing the present glory with the past to pay a tribute to the current ruler of the empire, or by contrasting the glories of the past with the ruins of today to admonish the present governor of the state. By understanding the role of history in traditional Chinese poetry, it helps us to further clarify the poet's intention to compose narrative poems as a means of self-expression and as a mode of social and moral judgment. Now, let me further explain in detail about the didactic view on narrative poetry as moral instruction and social comment.

The accumulation of the dramatic events occurred in history provides abundant resources and facilitates the development for narrative poetry. To begin with, Tang dynasty (618 - 907) is one of the most triumphant dynasties in the history of Chinese civilization. It achieved great success in political, economical, cultural, military, and various aspects of social life. The historical events surrounding the rise and collapse of the empire undoubtedly supplied a wealth of material for poetic compositions on historical and political themes. For instance, the tragic romance of emperor

Xuan-zong with his beloved Lady yang has been adapted by the great poets in Tang dynasty as one of their best chosen topics on imperial love. As can be seem in Li

Bai's ^fi (701-762) "Qing Ping DiaoCi San Zhang" tf zpfffHlH^, Du Fu's £fc

?f (712-770) "Li Ren Xing"ggAff, Yuan Zhen's 7U?!(779-831) "Lian Chang

Gong Ci"3||||iH|, Bai Juyi's figM (772-846) "Chang Hen Ge"M'UW(, and Li 11

Shangyin's ^MM (813-858) "Ma Wei"J§)i. Among these narrative works, Bai

Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" is exemplary. The application of narrative techniques in the poetry from the Classics of Poetry to the Tang reached its peak in this poem. The development of narrative poetry had also reached its first peak in the

Tang dynasty with the complete adaptation of narrative techniques. The ninth century innovative poets were beginning to explore the less developed realm of composition, they were eagerly searching for new styles of literature, and they were hoping to contribute something different from the richly developed lyrical tradition in Chinese poetry, narrative poetry thus becomes the target for their expedition.

Most narrative poems in Tang dynasty had been historical in nature, consisting either of records of the poet's personal experiences or third-person historical romances. The poet Bai Juyi was living in a political unstable and social chaotic period during the Tang dynasty. A lot of dramatic historical events happened in his age, which leads the poet to use them as a source for his narrative composition.

When poetry interweaves the historical with fictional elements, the poet creates a unique world of experience, and conveys his feeling through the imaginative, and in certain degree reliable composition.

Traditional Chinese criticism has emphasized the predominance of emotions in a lyrical tradition. In contrast, great poets in Tang dynasty began to explore the relationship between events (shi JJI) and feelings (qing flf) in their narrative composition. The term qingshi first occurs in the Zhuangzi, the two nouns combines together to a form a single idea, with emphasizes on the second character "events." 12

In other words, it is through the narration of events, that emotion and feelings are

conveyed. In narrative poetry, however, the emphasis of the "feeling" has been

placed as equally important as the explanation of the meaning. As for the poet, the

purpose of his narration of the events is to seek for a parallel relation between the

feelings of his characters with his own feelings. Therefore, the poet's intention

determines what kind of historical event would be best fit for his composition. As for

the readers, by relating the historical with the personal experience, they can further

perceive the poet's emotion which is transformed through the narration of events.

Given the historical nature of narrative composition, to evaluate the excellence of

narrative poetry, we should keep in mind that a poem with successful description of

historical event might not be a brilliant piece of poetic work. In contrast, a narrative

poem use historical element as a source for fiction narration might not be an

unreliable piece of work. Since validity is not of primary important in the narrative

poem, some critics such as Zhao Yi |§1S (1727-1841) even go further to claim the

separation of narrative poetry from historical concerns:

"Song of Eternal Sorrow" is a masterpiece for all ages. But when it narrates Lady Yang's entrance into the palace, it differs from what Chen Hong passed on to posterity [concerning events in] Longevity Palace.17 This was not just out of fear of getting into trouble for what he wrote but because Bai avoided [talking about] the ugly, and that is just as it should have been. Only the section [of this

poem] about the magician going to Penglai and returning with Lady Yang's message, which was then reported to the emperor, is probably a popular rumor

17 Chen Hong WM'- (A- Ca. 813) wrote a prose account of the imperial romance "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" ("Chang Hen Ge Zhuan" MtliWf). See Bai Bu Cong Shu Ji Cheng HnPMM /J)C, Taipei, 1965-. 13

and not a real event [shi]... But this sounds very exciting, and Bai made it seem real by the end of the poem, creating [a masterpiece] for all ages.18

Bai Juyi's intuition of depicting an imagistic heavenly realm extends the historical romance into a fictional affair, it was indeed a brilliant design for his composition.

The last section on heavenly experience allows the poet's elaboration on the historical topic, it enhances the vitality of the historical experience, and it completely transforms the historical sentiment into his personal feelings. Bai Juyi was consciously aware that the fictional element went against the historical basis but, by interveaving the imaginative elements with historical elements together into one composition, Bai adds great literary charm and enormous emotional depth to his narration. In the end, Bai completely transforms the narrative into a great piece of eulogy for imperial romance.

In short, the relationship between feeling and event is of primary focus in the ongoing debate about the relation between fictional narrative and historical writing.

The key question is whether narrative poetry has its own existence which is outside the scope of history. In other words, does the reader need to deeply concern with the accuracy of historical elements in narrative composition, or should the reader instead focus on the realm of hybrid experience within the work?

III. The Purpose of Narrative

Generally speaking, narrative poetry aims at two purposes: firstly, narrative poetry aims for the exploration of words and language. Fictional narrative differs

' Zhao Yi ^§J|'s Ou Bei Shi Hua B^;|tf#lf5, it is the literary masterpiece on Poetry by Zhao Yi in his old age. The author reviews ten poets in his work, where Li Bai had been placed on top. Zhao had also made comparison between Li Bai, Du Fu and Su Shi. 14

from historical narrative in its use of rhetorical devices, such as symbolism and

metaphor, enhancing the sensory experience for the reader. Secondly, narrative

composition aims at the expression of the author's personal ideas and opinions on

specific issues, in order to disclose the didactic purpose of the narrative.

Twentieth century literary critic Wang Guowei 3Ei9$t (1877-1927) defines the

"realm ±jt|?-" in poetry as consisting of "emotion fjf" and "scene Jit." Although Wang

was not the first to apply it to poetry, some early critics such as the Qing critic Yuan

Mei $£%Z (1716-1797) had discussed this idea in his poetic anthology Sui Yuan Shi

Hua ^HI^IS, Wang was obviously the first person to use it as a systematic

approach and to give it a concrete summarization:

The 'realm' does not refer to scenes and objects only; joy, anger, sadness, and happiness also form a realm in the human heart. Therefore poetry that can describe true scenes and true emotions may be said to 'have a realm'; otherwise it may be said 'not to have a realm'.19

The realm of poetry as Wang Guowei believed is a blending of emotion and scene,

this concept is in parallel with Wang Fuzhi's (1612-1692) zE^~£_ idea of the

20 construction of "an image M3§<" in poetic composition . This idea can certainly be

applied to explain the nature of narrative composition. Emotion as an internal

experience includes not only feeling but opinion, reminiscence, consciousness, as

well as imagination. Scene as external experience includes not only natural objects

but also external environment, situation and action. The exploration of the different

realms is of primary importance in the narrative experience. Not only does a poem

19 Wang Guowei HEKfSi, Ren Man Ci Hua AP&lPlHS- Zhejiang Gu Ji Press, 2005, 9.Translation from Liu, James J. Y. The Art of Chinese Poetry. p84. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1962 20 Wang, Fuzhi 3E^£. et al. QingShihua. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 1999. 15

describe specific experience, it also explores this experience by transforming and re-creating the original historical experience into the unique individual experience of the character, the poet as well as the reader. Meanwhile, the exploration of the new realms of experience engenders new meaning for the discovery of the ways of using language, with new rhetoric, expression, connotations, images, symbols and new combination of scene and emotion.

A narrative poem explores its own realm of experience through the use of rhetoric, such as imagery and symbolism. The description of historical and personal experience set eternal scene as the background, while the way of the utterance sets the tone for disclosing the internal feeling of the poet. In the end, the narrative composition enhances the readers' sensory experience through the internal emotion and external dramatic scenes depicted in the story. In short, narrative poetry embodies a world of its own within the intermingling of external and internal experience. The genuine poetry will lead us into the exploration of the realm within the narrative experience, it will enable us to perceive the nature of things, to evoke certain feelings touched by the experience, eventually leading us to consider and evaluate the significance of our existence in life.

Poetry can be regarded as a double exploration of world and emotion. An adequate poet thus has twofold task: in addition to capture new words fit for different realms of experience, he has to engender new feeling and emotion of his own. Narrative poetry can also be seem as the exploration of new worlds of experience. Such as the world of romance, the world of chaos, as well as the world 16

of life and death, yet these worlds may be depicted in different ways and in various perspectives, they all engender unique feeling of experience. Furthermore, the feeling and emotion revealed through the depiction of the experience has its own features. Such as the distinctiveness in certain time and space, or within specific social and cultural background, the poet's task is not only to disclose new feeling and emotion, but also to transform the old to a unique one. In short, narrative poem aims not only at experiencing new realms, but also at experiencing old realms in a different way. It is therefore can be said that great narrative transforms is the extension of historical reality and it can transform the old emotion into new.

In so far as narrative poetry is an exploration of different realms of experience, which include internal emotion and external scenes, the main aspect of poetry composition is concerned with the literary techniques it adopts for achieving a poetic effect. Now let us take a look at the second perspective of the narrative: as for the didactic view, narrative poetry can provide us moral instruction on social and political issues evoked through the sensory experience. Indeed, by examining the poet's intention, the reader can judge and evaluate the narrative quality of the composition, and can rectify and admonish one's behavior to society at large.

Confucius summarizes the characteristics of the poems in The Classics of Poetry: in one phrase: "poem has no evil thoughts |^^J|3," to answer what poetry is, most orthodox Confucian literati would regard poetry as a kind of moral instruction. Since most of the poets are morally instructed by the Confucian ideals, most of the narrative poems on historical topics contain the poet's comment on social and 17

political affairs; the didactic function thus becomes the most important feature for

their composition.

Shen Deqian $$§M (1673-1769), a recognized literary critic, holds the didactic

view that poetry can be regarded as a means to regulate one's nature and emotion,

and develop human relationships21. Poetic composition should cultivate one's mind,

influence one's personal morality, and provide moral instruction for achieving the

Confucian ideal of the "benevolence fZ" for the "upright man H-p." Narrative

poetry adopts the didactic approach in the use of historical allegories. The poet

moderately narrates the events that happened during the past, in order to draw a

parallel between the past and present recurrent situation and to give sincere

admonition for the current ruler.

Narrative poetry should reflect the author's opinions towards the political and

social issues. For instance, most of the folk songs in Music Bureau Poetry were

collected by officials from the common people as a means of examining public

opinion of the state. As for the common people, composing folk songs is a way of

reflecting their free opinions on the popular political and social issues. As for the

governor of the state, collecting folk songs is a way of approaching the grass-roots

level of political and social criticism. By understanding each other's purpose on

poetry, the authors would apply a moderate approach into their compositions, for

expecting the ruler's of the state to notice the gentle comment and advice, and

perhaps cultivating the most appropriate approach for political and social prosperity.

21 Shen Deqian jftrfUn?: Shuo Shi Zui Yu Quart Ping tgHtP^ggllfT- Hong Kong, 1978. 18

In order to fulfill the purpose, the poet chooses the historical narrative as an analogy, and adopts the implicit way of commenting on the present situation. By using the literary technique such as allegory and satire, the poet is trying to avoid the direct confrontation with the current government.

Bai Juyi once pointed out that some Six Dynasties poets' composition is characterized by the triviality of the theme without allegorical purposes. In contrast,

Bai characterized most of his poems with moral and political implication. He endowed most of his narratives with moral and political implication, and emphasized the importance of the didactic purpose, such as satire and admonition in the composition. The didactic purpose of narrative poetry discloses the relationship between historical experience and the poet's imagistic experience in his composition.

The didactic poet uses historical reference as an allegory for enhancing the sensory experience of the narrative, as well as for conveying his intended meaning of the narrative. Chapter Two: The Analysis of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow"

I Introduction and Synopsis

Bai Juyi (ca. 772 - ca. 846)'s "Song of Eternal Sorrow" ("Changhen Ge'^igfO emphasizes the fictional account, in which the story told is imaginative. While "An

Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" by Chen Hong (early 9th century) emphasizes the historical account. In the analysis of Bai Juyi's work, I am going to discuss how the author creates a fictional environment, and his characters in it, in order to show that the narrative mode places its importance on emotions rather than events. In addition, I will briefly discuss other related works such as: Chen Hong's

"An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'", the Kun drama The Palace of

Eternal Youth (Changsheng Dian JH^ilS) by Hong Sheng, as well as the drama based on the story, in order to show the difference of the narrative mode of description within its oral and written tradition.

The poem has one hundred and twenty lines in total. It can be divided into three sections according to its content. From "Han's Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country MMMfe^ftSH," (Line 1) to "All day long our sovereign could never gaze on her enough llHft2iflf^/i:." (Line 30) These lines form the first section of the story, with its focus on the narration of Emperor

Ming-huang's love affair with Lady Yang, the beginning of their rendezvous as well as the development of their relationship. The Emperor is portrayed to be a passive figure being full of emotions and desires for love. The author explicitly indicates at the beginning that everything begins with the Emperor's lust for beauty. Lady Yang is

19 20

portrayed to be a priceless beauty who acquires the royal patronage as well as jealousy from her competitors.

The poet emphasizes the consequences of the Emperor's devotion to his lady from three perspectives. Firstly, from the political, it directly results that "From this time on our sovereign would not attend the early court f/tlfctm^-^fJI-" (Line 16)

It indicates the declines of the nation's governance and gradually discloses the conflict which eventually leads to the "Ma Wei" incident. It also draws a comparison between the present glory of their love and the later destitution of their separation, thus showing the conflict between love and responsibility. Secondly, from an economical perspective, it results for the benefit of a particular group of people, Lady Yang's family and her relatives. "Her sisters and brothers were all ranked in royal titles fyfcfyfe.

I^^^^Ui;" (Line 23) connotes the rise of Lady Yang's brother Yang Guozhong as the prime minister of the nation and the granting of the imperial status of her sisters as the states' Ladies by the Emperor. It directly leads to the deterioration of nation's politics and indirectly points out Lady Yang and her family's responsibility for barbarian uprising as well as the nation's downfall. Lastly, form a sociological perspective, Lady Yang's patronage by the Emperor becomes the subject of envy and gossip for the common people. The poet emphasis on the changing of social value:

"To not care for the birth of a boy, but care for that of a girl ^fi^fe. HH^fe.^," (Line

26) which connotes a sense of irony comparing with the final downfall of the Lady's destiny. Even though at present state it seems that the Lady draws all of the Emperor's attention and enjoys all of the imperial favors, as if her delicate smile could 21

"overturns an entire country ftlH3," (Line 1) in the end, the Emperor could not merely save his beloved from death during the "Ma Wei" incident.

In one of Li Shangyin's (ca.813 - ca. 858) heptasyllabic quatrains22 "Ma Wei ,H

S", it says: "On this day the six armies all settled their horses, previously at the

midnight on the seventh day, they laughed at the heavenly cowherd jthB A^lnlli

M ' BaBtft;57;P|:¥4i-" (Line 5, 6) The contrast of the situation between the present

with the past reveals the paradox of the conflict, which also discloses the poet's

sympathy towards the tragic fate of the lovers. In addition, the poet goes on to

comment that: "How could he be the mandate of heaven for almost forty eight years,

not even being compared with Muo Chou from the Lu family $P{5J|Z9,|E^^? ' -^

~El&WMM^&."(Line. 7, 8) The tone of the poet at this stage is questioning the

Emperor's ability, as a top leader of the nation who exerts absolute control over his

nation, he cannot even protect his Lady's life like a commoner protects his wife. This

explicit metaphor reveals the sense of irony towards the emperor's uncertainty of his

control of power, and highlights the consequence of the conflict between his

personal satisfaction and public responsibility.

From "Then the battle-drums from Yu-yang came, shaking the earth MBHSSStt ife3R," (Line 31) to "But her spirit could never find a way to once enter his dreams i%

SH^ff3j5A||^," (Line 74) comprises the second section of the story. From the

Emperor's perspective, it focuses on the narration of the "Ma Wei" incident, its raison d'etre, its development as well as its consequences. From "A Taoist wizard of

22 Heptasyllabic (qiyan -trU): poetry with seven syllable per line. Quatrain (jueju Ig'frJ): Generally classified as a sub-category of regulated verse because of its tonal restrictions but with four lines per poem and normally without the parallelism of regulated poetry. 22

Ling-qiong was a voyager in the heavens Sml^xidrSlfP^," (Line 75) to "That in the heavens we wished to becomes a pair of birds with joined wings ^iiiilfJl jlS^JJl

U," (Line 118) makes up the last section of the story. This section narrates the events that happened after Lady Yang's death, from both the perspective of the Emperor in earth then Lady Yang's perspective as a heavenly immortal.

II "Song of Eternal Sorrow"'s Artistic Characteristics and Social Effects

The development of the plot is basically based on the development of the historical account, which records the real romantic affair between the Tang emperor

Xuan-zong with his favorite concubine Lady Yang Yuhuan. Bai Juyi merges historical event with fictional experience, thus the narrative methodology adopted by the poet produces an emotional effect for his readers. As a result, how the author expresses the emotions through his composition becomes the focus for the appreciation of the poem.

The basic function of a poem is for the poet to convey his intentions (fvfH^), whether it is for his reader or for himself. As for Bai Juyi, he believes that the emotion is the essence of the composition, it is like the soul of his poetic creation. "Song of

Eternal Sorrow" as a piece of narrative poem is different from other forms of poetry.

In addition to the expression of the poet's emotion, it is a descriptive form which incorporates elements from drama and historiography, and is characterized by the description of personal characteristics and the development of the conflict between primary characters. Therefore, we can recognize narrative poetry as an artistic form between poetry and fiction. 23

However, narrative poetry is indeed not novel or drama, it has the essential characteristics of the poetic composition. On the one hand, it is a condensed form of artistic creation, which is often constrained by the number of words in a specific meter or rhythm. Thus, the development of the plot cannot be elaborated into more specific details, the words must be abstract as well as metaphorical for producing the intensive emotional effect and conveying the meaning beyond the words. The relationship between the characters therefore has to be less complicated for the reader to appreciate. On the other hand, the intention of conveying emotion after all is the essence for all genre of poetry. This nature thus becomes the borderline between poetry and fiction. The former aims at expressing feelings and emotions while the latter focuses on the description of character types and their dramatic conflicts.

Compared with the specificity for the description of the detail in the novel, and the vivid portrayal of the action for specific character in the drama, the above characteristics all become the elements of less importance compared with the focus on emotions for the poetic composition. With this understanding of the basic characteristics of the narrative poetry in mind, it will help us to appreciate further the artistic features in Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow."

First of all, as a piece of narrative poem, the structure of "Song of Eternal

Sorrow" mainly follows the development of the objective events to elaborate its plot, this structure is recognized to be a common feature in almost all pre-modern Chinese fictional narrative, and it is different than some of the works from its Western counterparts. As a result, the structure of the plot and the description in these works 24

can evoke the resonance of those sensible readers. Narrative devices such as the flashback of the plot and a paragraph of the psychological description of the character can be adopted by the author to produce textual effects for his readers. In traditional

Chinese fiction, the historical evolution can be traced to the Tang Dynasty

Transformation Texts (bianwen §ii>0. In addition, as pointed out by Zhou Tian, Tang

Tale (chuanqi fllljf) might also be the creation influenced by the Transformation

Texts , which is an oral form of literature related with Buddhist stories.

Transformation Texts is designed for the potential audience to listen rather than to read, it cannot be taken home to be read several times to discover the deeper meanings, and it also cannot lose its audience by the extensive description of the psychological behavior of the character. It therefore becomes apparent that the widespread popularity of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" has benefited from the poet's

24 adoption of the method of "Plain Description" (Bai Miao E=|$E[) of the romantic story .

In the end, the common people can appreciate it more easily for the emotion embedded in the story.

When we go through the development of the plot, which includes for example, from the beginning of the romance between the two lovers, the Ma Wei incident, the memory and the longing of the emperor's affection toward his beloved concubine, and the Taoist messenger's sending of token and message from Lady Yang to the emperor, etc the development of the plot can be seen as fairly straightforward as possible,

23 Zhou, Tian. Chang Hen GeJian Shuo Gao. pi 88. Shan Xi: Ren Min Press, 1983. 24 Levy, Dore J.: Chinese Narrative Poetry: the Late Han through T'ang Dynasties. P8. Durham: Duke University Press, 1988. 25

there are not a lot of flashbacks in this story, and it adopts a direct way of revealing the character's inner feeling and emotion for the development of the plot. It draws popular element in the bianwen story of incorporating the supernatural realm as a resolution for the conflict faced by the protagonist in the story. Generally speaking, the story would soon become boring for the reader if the narrator cannot well manipulate this quite straightforward way of telling his story. In Bai Juyi's "Song of

Eternal Sorrow", however, we need to understand how well the poet applies the narrative device to draw his audience's resonance and sympathy about the royal romance.

"Song of Eternal Sorrow" mainly focuses on narrating the love affair between the two lovers: Emperor Tang Xuan-zong and his beloved concubine Yang Yuhuan. In addition, there are some secondary characters mentioned in the story, such as the

Taoist immortal, they all exert less importance for the overall development of the plot.

The events occur between the two protagonists by time sequence, and there is no direct conflict between them raised in the story. For instance, "Until persuaded his moth-browed beauty would die in front of the horses %$(®]@,i|ftl^E," (Line 38) if such kind of plot occurs in the fiction or drama, the author must have used vivid dialogue between the protagonists to show the desperate separation of the two and how heart broken the emperor is to lose his beloved concubine. But in this poem, the poet merely used "persuaded %fl|" as an abstract description in order to reveal the submissiveness of the female protagonist to her lord when they are about to separate forever. For the emperor, "Our sovereign covered his face, helpless to save her; 26

looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together ftlffitSf^^ ' HWlftrM ffl^Pftlt-" (Line 41, 42) The above two lines conclude the description of the emperor's action after the separation, which reveal the everlasting sorrow from which he will never recovers.

Secondly, when examining the emotion conveyed through the story, we can perceive that there are two parallel lines of emotions revealed in the poet's composition. One line is of the emotion between the two protagonists, the other line is the poet's self embraced emotion. From "Han's Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country MMMfeSMS," (Line 1) to "All day long our sovereign could never gaze on her enough H Q HI^^/l.," (Line 30), which made up of the first section of the story, it describes the favorable position of the concubine to the emperor in comparison with the emperor's sole affection for his beloved concubine. These emotions are less intense than the emotion evoked in the later "Ma

Wei" incident, in which the deepest sorrow between two partners is exposed.

"Ma Wei" incident marks the turning point for the further development of the emotions. It reveals the inner emotional conflict of the emperor, from this point on, the emotion conveyed through the development of the plot becomes more dimensional. It gradually discloses Lady's Yang's emotion towards her lord, the submissiveness of her emotion leads to the desperation and the suffering in the final stage of her life. Lady Yang's emotion thus becomes the trigger for the emperor's later internal emotional conflict. "Our sovereign covered his face, helpless to save her fl

^WWffi/f^," and "Looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together [I[]:ff 27

iMJifflfnM-" (Line 41, 42) These lines elaborate and reveal the inner emotional conflict of the emperor: without facing any other choices, he has to let his beloved wife die in the voice of his command. This emotional conflict seems to break down his unknown destiny, as he used to care about nothing but in favor of his beloved concubine. But at the present stage, the sudden downfall in his life completely becomes out of his control. His past glory has vanished, only leaving him for the deepest suffering in his heart as well as the uncertainty of fate upon him. Therefore, the "blood tear" represents the crisis of the emotional stage at this moment in his life.

Because the elaboration of the emotional conflict gradually occurs in several stages, the characteristic of the Emperor of Tang becomes deeper in depth and dimension when associated with the development of the events.

From "The yellow dust dispersed, the wind blew desolate M^&kl§kMM1M"

(Line 43) to "In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart SffiHJifj

MWi9t" (Line 50), these lines mark the transitional point from the first to the second section. "Our royal lord, morning and night grieved ISEJEfJ^JIItiffit," (Line 48) the yellow dust dispersed, the trail in the clouds twisted around, the Jian E Pass, under the

E-mei mountain, the mountain and the water of Shu, all of the scenery is filled with the emperor's emotion, and the emotions merge into the external scene. In addition, this section of the lines can also be read as an individual poem to express private emotions.

From "Heaven and earth revolved, the dragon chariot returned ^SSBWlHIfl

IX," (Line 51) to "Looking east to the capital gates, he trusted his horses to take him 28

home MM^F^isMiW (Line 56), the section describes the memory of the emperor for his dead concubine. The emperor comes back to Ma Wei and hesitates, he could not continue on his journey back to the capital. The poet uses "trusted his horses to take hime home fa fS§§," in order to show that the uncontrollable circumstance of the emperor's after the escapes from the Ma-wei incident. The internal emotional conflict becomes more deeply reflected through the development of external political circumstances.

From "When he returned, his pools and parks were as in the olden days Hjjfctfe

Ifi'lf'fScif,"(Line 57) to "But her spirit could never find a way to once enter his dreams EitfiJU^It'^All'" (Line 74), these lines represent the most significant moment of the emperor's emotional conflict. They associate every external object in the palace with the emperor's internal emotion. Day and night, within everywhere and everytime, the emperor's memory for Lady Yang is constant and eternal. For instance, the hibiscus, the willows, the wu-tong trees and the frost are objective representations of the four seasons in a year. The peaches and plum blossoms as well as the falling leaves represent daytime, and each long night; the sky at dawn indicates the more specific time of the day. The time and season intervene by associating with entities in real life, in order to reflect the inner sorrow hidden inside the emperor's broken heart.

"There were lotuses in the Tai-ye Lake, and willows at Wei-yang Palace ^$131117^:

^fJ/P," (Line 58) originally means the beautiful scenery comes out in spring, but in

"The lotuses looked like her face, the willows seemed like her brows ^^$PHJ#P$P

JU," (Line 59) the beautiful image associates with the sad image of Lady Yang. 29

Another metaphorical example is "The roof-tile mandarin ducks MMlL" (Line 71) and "His kingfisher-feather IlflpsSt", (Line 72) mandarin ducks live in pairs and will never separate themselves, while the glamour of the peacock feathers make us imagine the glorious days of the past in comparison with the present day lonlieness inside the palace. Although there is a difference with the poet's description of "trusted his horses to take him home {BUM," (Line 56) the former plot emphasizes the connotation behind the action, while the latter plot of the various objects reveals the prolonged sorrow evoked from the scenery inside the palace.

Because of the climax of the emotional change revealed through the above lines, less emotion is disclosed in the later experience. Instead, the poet emphasizes the narration of the romantic story. From "A Taoist wizard of Ling-qiong was a voyager in the heavens K|I|^±$§|iP^r,'' (Line 75) to "And asked a little jade attendant to inform the Maid Shuang-cheng |f fjW^zELflsSf^," (Line 90) these lines are all about the narration of how the Taoist immortal visits heaven and earth to seek for Lady

Yang's soul, it also represents the transitional stage for the later description of the development of Lady Yang's emotion.

Then narrative proceeds, "When she heard the Han court had sent an envoy from the Son of Heaven MJlJ^^^:?'f$)" (Line 91) this line is the description of Lady

Yang's emotion. At the beginning, the poet uses words such as "soul was awakened from dreams |?i$!jff" (Line 92) as well as "Her flower headgear was not set straight fSS^iH" (Line 96) to start Lady Yang's action. Then the poet uses "On her jade face from loneliness, the tears were streaming down 3£W3§ JlMM?^" (Line 99) and 30

"Like a branch of pear blossoms bearing the rain of spring 2^7£—S#^M-" (Line

100) This couplet represents the starting point of the description of Lady Yang's emotion. "The spring brings down the rain" shows the complexity of her feeling at this particular moment. Thus, the paradox of her emotion reveals through the development of the plot. She is joyful for receiving the message brought from the emperor by the envoy. Meanwhile, her sadness derives from "Once we parted our voices and faces were elusive to one another —SSJW^Mffi^ft," (Line 102) and also

"Cut off was the love Hl|8$§" (Line 103) of their vow. The reason for the separation between the lovers is the "Ma Wei" incident. It becomes the break offstage of the two lovers' relationship and the transitional point of their emotion from happiness to desperation. If Lady Yang's soul could spend an entire life "Now days and months pass slowly in the Palace of Peng-lai MW-lStf3 0 ^iIt," (Line 104) there will be no darkness and brightness in her life, everything will be buried as time goes by.

However, when the message from her lover in earth comes by, "About to part, with passionate care, she charged him further with a few more words fsJ^WffM'L^P)"

(Line 113) the description of their vow discloses the paradox of emotion of Lady Yang to her former love. In the end, Lady Yang's sorrow becomes eternal and sentimental.

Later in the poem, the poet didn't mention what happened after the messenger brings the golden hairpin and the vow to the emperor, and leave it for the audience to image themselves about the story. The focus of the emotion between the two lovers at this crucial moment is brought out by the appearance of the Taoist immortal. It shows the difference between poetry and drama. Generally speaking, in drama, the author 31

discloses the characters' emotional state through the description of the external conflict between the roles. In contrast, the poet is good at describing the inner emotional conflict through a third personal narrative voice. Therefore, the poem leaves an imaginative space and increases the emotional depth of the characters.

In short, we can perceive that "Song of Eternal Sorrow" brings in the idea of conveying emotion in narrative poetry, it also portray the characteristics of the

Emperor and his concubine, and does its best to describe the gradual development of different stage of emotions, bringing out the emotional depth of their joys and sadness, love and sorrow, as well as their emotional conflict caused by the external circumstance. This method of plain description is adopted from other form of work such as fiction and drama. In the last chapter, I will make a comparison between Bai's

"Song of Eternal Sorrow" with other forms of composition based on this, such as

Chen Hong's "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" and Hong

Sheng's drama The Palace of Eternal Youth, in order to show how the similarities and differences in different forms of narratives produce the unique meaning for different audience.

The dramatic form of the story focuses on the development of the characters' internal and eternal conflict in order to help bring out the theme. Because the dramatic conflict exposes the characteristics of the role, reveals the emotional side of the character, and also helps to develop the character's relationship in the story. Thus, the story develops by finding the solution for the external as well as internal conflict. In the end, the problem gets resolved and the characters are united together, the happy 32

ending is often the case for the traditional drama. "Song of Eternal Sorrow" as a popular piece of narrative poem applies the dramatic techniques for the development of the protagonists' inner conflict. The poetry form of the story discloses the progress of their inner conflicts, while the drama form of the story also reveals the emotional stage of the characters.

Secondly, the other focus of the story is the poet's disclosure of his own emotional state. The portrayal of character types in the story is different from the people in real life. The author often associates his personal feeling and emotion for his characters. Thus, the emotional characteristics of certain roles merge with the author's personal feeling about his own circumstances. The two emotional situations are intertwined and united into one single unity through the use of metaphors in the composition. For instance, the poet at the beginning introduces the affair between the

Emperor and his concubine. He uses "Han's Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country YHMfi"fe®fSS>" (Line 1) to point out the theme of the story. Then he uses "When she turned her eyes with one smile, a hundred charms were revealed [H] 1$ —• ^ If #1 ^ ," (Line 7) to reveal Lady Yang's attractiveness to the emperor. Thus, the poet implicitly discloses the idea that the nation's faith will soon be disrupted because of the beautiful concubine Yang Yuhuan.

Later, when the poet begins to narrate the love life of the Emperor, he continues to disclose his critical comments about the situation. The poet gradually builds up the plot towards the disclosure of the final consequence. "Would not attend the early court

^J^.<|fj>" (Line 16) "Her sisters and brothers were all ranked in royal titles ffiiifc^jR 33

"if^'li," (Line 23) and "All day long our sovereign could never gaze on her enough slBftHiif^JI.." (Line 30) The emperor loses his interest of managing the politics of the nation, and instead, he devotes his energy into the patronage of court beauties.

The nation's state gradually becomes unstable and the system is intervened in by self-interest groups such as Lady Yang's relatives. Thus, the poet concludes "And shook apart those melodies, suddenly breaking apart the melodies of 'the Robe of

Feathers and Rainbow Skirts' ft^SfSc^Klft-" (Line 32) It becomes obvious that the nation's state turns into chaos, and this circumstance shocks the emperor because of his favoring of the extravagant life over the governance of state affairs. These descriptive lines of the affair between the emperor and Lady Yang reveal the poet's critical opinion about the situation. The patronage of beauty and the court intrigue topple down the kingdom, which in turn leads to the deterioration of the nation's state and eventually the invasion of the state by barbarians.

"Looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together |IIlltJ3ilMfflftI#f£,''

(Line 42) which indicates that the decision to order of Lady Yang's death is not the true intention of the emperor. Thus, the death of the concubine did not completely resolve the frustration of the emperor. The poet then associates the palace objects with the emperor's emotions, everywhere and every time he passes through certain scenery site, it will provoke his sadness memory about the happiness when the two lovers enjoy the romance together.

At the beginning of the poem, the poet already gave his personal comment about the emperor, abused by the beauty and toppling the kingdom. In the later description 34

about the emperor, the poet gradually builds up towards this idea by displaying the emperor's unforgettable memory of his lady. At the same time, the poet projects his self- emotion into the poem, to indicate the tragic disruption for the nation and for its civilians cause by the emperor's action.

The poet then concentrates on the description of Lady Yang's emotional conflict after she meets the Taoist messenger who brings her the news from the Emperor. She is joyful because the news is from her lover in earth, her sadness comes from "Once we parted our voices and faces were elusive to one another —'BUW^M'/i^fE-" (Line

102) This paradox of emotions intervened and formed the unresolved conflict in her life. This paradox of emotion proceeds towards the end of the poem, and it leaves more imaginative space for the reader to explore. This is the difference between the poetic form and the dramatic form of the story. The former intends to derive difference in depths of meaning by the reader themselves. It depends both on the technique of the poet and on the literal ability of the reader to appreciate. Thus, different readers can perceive different meaning according to their level of literary assessment. No wonder Tang Xuzong's comments that "The child can recite 'Song of

Eternal Sorrow', and the Hu children can sing 'Ballad of the pi-pa'25." It is from the diversity of understanding that Bai's work enjoys a widespread popularity after the composition. The later dramatic form written by Hong Sheng intends to create tension between the characters and to solve the conflict at the end of story. The sense of coherence in the structure of the drama thus requires a certain audience who has the

Chen, Yinke. Yuan Bai ShiJian Zheng Gao. p42 Bejing: Wen Xue Gu Ji Press, 1955. 35

ability to appreciate this particular form. The difference in their narrative styles also separates them into different forms. The poetic form is more imaginative and easy for recitation, while the historical account form is more stylistic and requires some historical background to appreciate the description of historical events.

HI The difference between the fictional approach and the historical approach

Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" emphasizes on the fictional romance between the two lovers, while Chen Hong's "An Account to go with the 'Song of

Eternal Sorrow'" emphasizes on the historical accuracy of this imperial romance. The former poetic form and the later historical form are both written about the story of same characters as well as events. In addition, the composition of the latter is based on the former. However, one is poetic form, the creative literary composition based on both the historical account and the poet's own imagination to express self-intention.

For instance, Bai Juyi creates a different character type in his "Song of Eternal

Sorrow." The male protagonist emperor Xuanzong in certain aspects portrays a different individual type than the same person in the historical narrative. The poet's creation of his character types aims to convey self-emotion. His characters therefore are full of passion, and are more dynamical in the narration of their romantic affairs.

This unique characteristic aims at evoking the listeners' resonance after they hear the story.

However, the composition of the historical account is based on the former real account of political events during the emperor's regime. The composition thus becomes a way to pay a tribute for the upright governance of the lord and aims at 36

handing it down to the later dynasties to follow. For example, in the official historiography, Tang Taizong had the historical record rewritten, portraying himself as an upright governor for the founding of the new dynasty . The portrayal of the benevolent political image of the governor becomes more important than the narration of the historical truth. Therefore, historiography eventually places more emphasis on the moral uprightness of the governor rather than the emotional uncertainty in their lives.

Chen Hong's "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" inherits the compositional style from the form of historiography, but also narrates the romance in a more literary style than in what historical account should be. As a result, the difference between the two works lies in their attitude toward the protagonists. And in the historical account, its organization of the plots emphasizes on the description of specific events. "Song of Eternal Sorrow" begins with "Han's Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country MMfifeSftllffl-" (Line 1) Tang

Dynasty is the most triumphant dynasty during the Chinese history, the citizens often regard themselves as the Han People. The poet therefore pays a direct emphasis on his protagonist - Emperor Minghuang, he uses "Han Emperor", which means the Han people's emperor and connotes the Tang emperor Xuanzong. In the beginning few lines in "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'", the writer based on the historical account to compose a biography of the Emperor. On the one hand, the composition proves the historical accuracy of the character's identity, the time and the

Owen, Stephen, ed. and trans. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. p365 New York: Norton, 1996. 37

placement of the events. On the other hand, it convinces his reader of the reliability of the narration on some of the upcoming events in his composition. Hence, the difference in form adopted by the two authors shows their individual attention of the composition. The song form is more self-emotional and emphasizes on the passion, whereas the biographical form more focuses on the historical narration of the romance between the two lovers.

Then, in the "Song", it says "For many years his majesty searched for one in vain

'M^-^^r^-^W" (Line 2) The using of the tone evokes the poet's sympathy for the

Emperor, which also establishes the development of the emotional conflict. In the

"Account", it provides a further narration from the historical perspective about the

Emperor's life, in order to convince the reader of a more realistic and believable story.

Chen Hong's "Account" follows Bai Juyi's "Song" and is composed in a historical mode to make Bai's poem appears to be more lyrical.Therefore, it shows that Bai Juyi merges more imaginative elements into his composition, while Chen Hong relies more on the historical account to construct the content of his story. Even though their compositions differ in their forms and accountability, they both focus on the expression of emotion in the story.

In Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow", the poet aims at creating an idealized pair of character type characterized by their commitment to eternal love. His main characters in the story are portrayed as devoted to their relationship as possible. On the one hand, the creation of the tragic figures leads to the sympathy towards their uncertain destiny. On the other hand, the tragic fate of the characters in the story 38

connotes the self-lamentation of the poet's own uncertainty, which also draws the reader's resonance towards the poet's own circumstance. In Chen Hong's "An

Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'", however, the author aims at to create a realistic imagery of the characters based on the historical account, to display the emotional and romantic aspect in the lives of those historical figures. There will be a further discussion in the details on the difference of the plot, the point of view between the authors, the sequential structure of the story in the next section of the paper, in order to highlight the difference of these elements between the literary and historical approaches to the composition. Chapter Three: Narratological Analysis

I. Introduction

In Chen Yinke's I^Htg- Yuan Bai Shi Man Zheng Gao jt^MMWM, he states:

The novels composed between the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe period in Tang dynasty is a new literary form, it is not the only popular form during that period, moreover, it is imitated by the later forms, together with the Tang dynasty ancient-style prose form, they belong to the same origin and system.. .Yuan Zhen and Li Ying composed "the account of Yingying" and "the Song of Yingying" during the Zhenyuan period, Bai Juyi and Chen Hong composed "An account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" and "Song of Eternal Sorrow" during the Yuanhe period... they are indeed the new literary form during the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe periods. The prospering of this literary form is highly related with the ancient-style prose movement, it is a convenient form in composition, and moreover, it utilizes different literary forms in its composition. As a result, we can conclude that Chen Hong's account and Bai Juyi's Song is not the usual preface attached with the poem, however, they compose one organization and can not be separated.27

From the above, we know that the interrelated structure of the poem and the account

must have influenced each other in their styles of compositions. The tale {Hitf/MS

in Tang dynasty searches for inspiration from Tang poems, and vice versa. The

development of this particular literary form leads to the appearance of the longer

narrative poems which centers on the description of the event and the narration of

the experience. Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" can be regarded as the best

example under this influence.

27 Reference from Chen Yinke's M.MV1! ^u°n Bai Shi Man Zheng Gao, 7Cl=lf#li§lftl- p2,p4. Beijing: Wen Xue GuJi Kan Xing She, 1955.

39 40

The language of the poem is less literary and more vernacular, which makes it

easy to understand by the general public. The narration of the story focuses on the

ups and downs in terms of the development of plots; at the same time, there is also a

clear development of the events. The characters portrayed in the story vividly

displayed their individual roles and features. The kind of poetry centers on the

narration of events is generally regarded as "narrative poetry", or "poetic novel".

Therefore, it characteristics are similar with the Tang Tale flllsf/MS that flourished

during the Tang dynasty. Lun Xun Hifl summarized the characteristics of the Tang

Tale as: the narration of event focuses on details and the up and downs in course of

events, the characters are vivid in their individual features, and the language and

imagery are often embedded into the narrative28. The following analysis focuses on

the discussion of narrative techniques embedded in Bai Juyi's composition, which

includes: point of view, characterization, sequential structure as well as the imagery

and symbolism, in order to explore some of the essential features in Tang dynasty

narrative poetry.

II. Point of View

In his Narrative Discourse, Gerard Genette defines the historical narrative (of fiction) as a broadest narrative type which covers almost every type of narrative. This kind of historical narrative is explicitly placed in a historical experience and conveyed through the voice of a narrator who places himself more or less in the position of a

Lun Xun Ugl. Zhong GuoXiao Shuo Shi Lue t^lSl'MftSW- Chapter eight. Ren Min Wen Xue Chu Ban She. 1953 41

historian.29 Genette points out two characteristics of the historical narrative of fiction, one is the background of historical experience and the other is the importance of narrative voice. The narrator's voice in the story usually stands for the point of view of the author in the historical narrative of fiction. Therefore, the narrator's voice determines the reader's access to the characters, as well as the interpretation of the events. In addition, there can be several points of view in a given narrative, depending on the degree of complexity of the narration, such as the point of view of the characters as well as the point of view of the audience. In a less sophisticated narrative, like Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow", the narrator's point of view is the dominant point of view in the story. The third person narrative point of view allows the poet to control the reader's response to the specific experiences described in the text. The narrator's point of view indirectly reflects the poet's intention, thus it can be identified with the poet's own voice.

First of all, the point of view of the poet is the same as that of the narrator in lyrical poetry. Bai Juyi successfully adopts this third person omniscient point of view in the lyrical poem for his narrative composition. Moreover, the point of view of the narrator connects the reader's experience with the characters' experience during the narrative process, and deliberately influences the reader's perspectives of the story as well as of the characters in it. For instance, the manipulation of the narrator's point of view in the beginning of Bai's narrative obviously reveals the poet's attitude on his characters. In the beginning couplet:

Reference from Gerard Genette Narrative Discourse Revised Jane E. Lewin, Translator. p80. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1988 42

itMJtfeigfiH - !??#¥*« •

The Han Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country,

For many years his majesty searched for one in vain.

The allegory of the Han Emperor indicates the historical romance of the Han emperor with his beloved concubine Zhao Fei-yan, which implicitly indicates the parallel relation between the Tang Emperor Ming-huang with the Han Emperor. Moreover, it deliberately reveals the poet's intention of comparing Tang Emperor's beloved Lady

Yang with the Han Emperor's beloved Lady Zhao. The imperial favor of their concubines leads to the destruction of the kingdom, as Bai pointed out in the first line.

Thus, through the third personal narrator voice, the poet consciously reveals his sympathetic feeling towards the characters in the story.

The narrator's voice directs readers' attention to the protagonists, the Tang

Emperor and his beloved Lady Yang, influences readers' understanding of the characters' experiences. The words "prized beauty (fife)" and "overturns an entire country (ffcjfEl)" reveal the Emperor's eagerness to fulfill personal desire in comparison to his public duty. The words "searched for (>f<)" and "in vain (^Ff#)" further indicate the importance of this prized beauty to her lord. Thus, in the portrayal of the central characters in the first couplet, Bai is trying to set up a fictional background for the development of the plot, and places his emphasis on the exploration of emotion of the protagonists rather than the description of the historical experience. The historical romance between the Emperor and his favorite concubine thus becomes the dominant subject of the narration. At the same time, the poet 43

embedded his imagination and his emotional feeling into the description of the royal romance.

Secondly, in Gerard Genette's Narrative Discourse, he defines focalization as a selection of narrative information with respect to the completeness of information in which the narrator becomes omniscient30. In other words, the narrator exerts his or her point of view through the focalization of the particular experience and specific character in the story. There are two types of focalizations in the narrative process, internal and external. Internal focalization is to merge the narrator's point of view with the point of view of a particular character in the story. The narrator's voice thus coincides with the character's voice in order to explore the inner emotion and to reveal the psychological feeling inside's the character's mind . The narrator in this case can jump into the character's mind and can tell the reader everything the character thinks and perceives. The narrator thus becomes an intermediator who connects the experience of the character within the story with the experience of the reader outside the story. As a result, the internal focus can help the reader to perceive the poet's intention and to shape his view on a particular character. External focalization is to focus the point of view outside each character, in which all of the possibility of information about everyone's thoughts is excluded . In Bai Juyi's work, there are circumstances in which the poet identified himself as the narrator, exerting controlling points of view within specific experience and on a particular character:

30 Reference from Gerard Genette Narrative Discourse Revised Jane E. Lewin, Translator. p74. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1988 31 Reference from Gerard Genette Narrative Discourse Revised Jane E. Lewin, Translator. p74. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1988 2 Reference from Gerard Genette Narrative Discourse Revised June E. Lewin, Translator. p75. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1988 44

There were three thousand other beauties in his sovereign's palace, For him, all their three thousand charms were fixed in one body.

In the golden chamber, her toilette complete, she tenderly attended his nights, In the jade mansion, feasts were finished, their drunkenness harmonized with spring delights.

Her sisters and brothers were all ranked in royal titles, A glory that any would envy rose up from her family. (Line 19-24)

Internal focalization has been placed on the particular experience of the female protagonist Lady Yang, the narrator's point of view is revealed through Lady Yang's perspective. Among the three thousand beauties in the imperial palace, Lady Yang possesses the most attention of them all. Her extravagant life style reveals her imperial status comparing with other palace beauties, the rise of her power also lead to the rise of the social status of her relatives. Her brother Yang Guo-zhong had been awarded royal rank and her three sisters had been given imperial titles as they were recounted in the historical narrative. The poet is trying to embed the historical experience within his fictional narrative, in order to intensify his point of view on the character and to enhance the persuasiveness towards the experience. The descriptive passage within the internal focus on Lady Yang's experience thus directs the readers' attention towards the particular experience within the given perspective. In another passage, the internal focus is placed on the experience of the Emperor after Lady

Yang's death. The description focuses on the inner mind of the emperor and reveals 45

the emperor's internal emotions as touched by the external scene.

Our sovereign covered his face, helpless to save her. Looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together. (Line 41-42) mtDrnmiku, wmmmmm » The water of the Shu River is green, Shu Mountain is clear: Our royal lord, morning and night grieved. frn%B®ib&, mimnmm& ° In the imperial palace, he glimpsed at the moon, colors that broke his heart, In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart. (Line 47-50)

The third- person narrator plunges straight into the character's mind and explicitly reveals the character's inner emotion, the emperor is "helpless" to save his beloved, and he could do nothing but cry. When he returns to the palace, every place he goes and everything he sees evokes his past memory.

When he returned, his pools and parks were as in the olden days, There were lotuses in the Tai-ye Lake, and willows at Wei-yang Palace. ^wmmwwm, mutpm^mm ? The lotuses looked like her face, the willows seemed like her brows, Facing such scenes how could he help but weep?

On days when peaches and plums blossomed in the breeze of spring, At the moment the autumn rains and the wutong trees shed their leaves in season. m-gWiPsMXM , mmmmBPfm •

The West Palace and the Southern Compound were full of autumn grasses, Falling leaves filled the stairs with red, and were not swept away. 46

The performers of the Pear Garden, their hair was newly touched with white,

Enunchs from the Pepper House, their blue eyebrows showed age. (Line 57 - 66)

The specific experience of the emperor described in this passage gradually reveals the emperor's emotional despair and his awakened awareness of a sense of loss in his old age. After the death of Lady Yang, the emperor sinks into an emotional despair along with the passing of time. Spring breeze versus autumn rain, blossom flower versus fallen leave, the binary description of the natural imageries leads to a contrast between the former glories with the present down fall, which enhance the emotional depth evoked through the point of view of the character.

As fireflies flew through the twilight halls, he thought quietly of her, The wick of his lonely lamp burnt out, and yet he would not sleep. mmmmwmt, «SMM^° In the slow, slow beat of bells and drums began each long night, In the bright and shining stream of stars, the sky was approaching dawn.

MWJSLrpm^M., aa^p^gEJm^N (

The roof-tile mandarin ducks were chill, the frost was bright and in layers, His kingfisher-feather quilts were cold, for whom he was to be with?

Far away, life and death were departed throughout the years,

But her spirit could never find a way to once enter his dreams. (Line 67-74)

Bai Juyi is able to depict a sympathetic figure of an Emperor, whose experience reveals the great fall of a ruler into old age, loneliness, above all, emotional despair. 47

Through the third-person narrative voice, the poet gradually manipulates the reader's sympathies through the implicit use of rhetoric. "The twilight halls (•tyW)" represents the emperor's old age, while "the lonely lamp (MM)" represents the emperor's loneliness. The metaphors can create a dramatic character as well as irony for the story. For example, "the roof-tile mandarin ducks (fS^flJL)" can be compared with the former lovers while the "kingfisher-feather quilts (Ijflp^)" can be compared with the previous extravagant life style, these two subjects both represent the happy memories of the past. The chilliness and coldness of their present situation create a contrast, as well as an irony within the present experience. In short, Bai Juyi constructs a world in which a pair of lovers ironically brings about their own downfall within the poetic experience. This world stands up differently within the literary experience during the Tang dynasty. It is characterized by its uniqueness of intertwining the source from historical narrative into the composition of fictional narrative. In the end, Bai Juyi's participation as a narrator in the text exerts a controlling point of view on each character as he jumps straight into the characters' minds to disclose their inner feeling and emotion.

Lastly, the framing technique used in the description of particular experience represents a specific locus in terms of time and space. It frees the poet to explore that experience from any point of view, within any perspective. Framing devices that present particular points of view are explicitly revealed through the voice of the narrator, the narrator thus directs the reader's attention towards a specific context and particular experience. In narrative poetry, particular in Music Bureau poetry (yuefu H§ 48

jf^f), the poet often employs framing techniques in order to incorporate a particular description into a larger narrative context, and even to manipulate various points of view which can build up to a sense of vicarious experience of the event. For instance, in Bai Juyi's "Ballad of pi-pa", the poet inserts a first-person narrative frame from the point of view of the female protagonist into the large frame from the point of view of the third-peson narrator. These derive from the performative feature in yuefu, in which the omniscient narrator sets up a frame to reveal the inner feelings of the character, in order to draw the audience's attention and to evoke the audience's resonance towards particular experience. The framing technique has been used several times in Bai Juyi's yuefu poem "Song of Eternal Sorrow." The poet creates a world that centers on the portrayal of the tragic romance between two lovers, Emperor Xuanzong with his beloved concubine Lady Yang, and emphasizes the tragic emotions disclosed within the specific experiences:

"Of the hairpin I will keep one branch, of the box I will keep one half, The yellow gold of the hairpin separated and the hinge of the box divided. 110

If only our love can be as firm as this golden hairpin and inlaid box, In heaven or in the human realm we will meet again." (Line 109-112)

The above narrative frame sets in the context of a Taoist immortal searching for Lady

Yang's soul in the heavenly realm, in which the internal focalization has been placed on the description of Lady Yang's monologue. The third-person narrative voice thus coincides with Lady Yang's voice, which explicitly reveals Lady Yang's monologue 49

and discloses her inner emotion to her lord.

"On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity, It was midnight, with no one else there, we exchanged a secret vow: wmmmm, mwrnwrni* That in the heavens we wished to become a pair of birds with joined wings, And on the earth we wished to become branches that twine together."(Line 116-8)

The narrator's point of view emphasizes the expression of imagined emotion rather than on the description of historical events. The point of view in this frame is revealed from the perspective of the doomed lovers rather than from the perspective of historical experience. The narrator becomes omniscient inside this frame, at the same time, the narrator places his emphasis on the particular experience set within a frame of specific time and space - "On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity." In the final couplet, Bai Juyi's point of view eventually merges together with the character's point of view, to lament the tragic destiny of the lovers and to point out the theme of the everlasting nature of this prolonged sorrow.

III. Characterization

The point of view of the author in a given narrative defines the individual identity of the character. In narrative poetry, the narrator's point of view often reveals some of the characteristics of certain role; the narrator thus becomes the only medium for the reader's access of the characters. The mimetic impulse toward the presentation of character though the dramatization of the inner life in psychological monologue reflects the nature of the character. In the end, the narrator's perspective controls the 50

reader's access to the character, as well as influences the reader's intuition towards the attribute of certain characters. Furthermore, the narrator's interpretation of a particular character role attributes to the development of a sense of the individuality disclosed in the story.

First of all, in narrative literature, the characters usually are classified into particular types. In Chinese narratives in particular, the characteristics of a type is determined through the Confucian idea of the five cardinal relationships: between emperor and minister, between father and son, between wife and husband, between elder and younger brothers, and last, between friends. The individuality of a particular character becomes less important than the interplay and overlapping of types which defines the character's existence in the first place. However, in Andrew H. Plaks discussion of characterization, he develops the idea of the "unique individual" as an individual role which differs from the ordinary type, while the character roles are more mimetic than types. Furthermore, he states that the interplay between individuality and the classified type in a given role leads to the creation of a character in narrative33.

In Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow", he creates a fictional role of the emperor in a state of emotional despair, whose characteristic features differently from the same character in the relevant historical narrative. In Bai's narrative, there is more of individuality than stereotype in him, and there is more of mimesis in him. In historical terms Emperor Xuanzong is usually depicted to be a wise ruler who had overthrown

33 Andrew H. Plaks, "Towards a Critical Theory of Chinese Narrative," in Plaks, ed., Chinese Narrative, p. 344. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977. 51

the power of the Wu Zetian in his early age; and in his late age, he is portrayed to be a corrupt ruler for his extravagant private life. The historical accounts often lay the blame on Lady Yang as the cause for the dynasty's downfall. However, in Bai Juyi's narrative, he emphasizes on the expression of emotion rather than historical events, and focuses more the description of the romantic aspect of the emperor's experience.

In addition, he depicts an emperor in a state of emotional despair and desolation: 3giwsm#, mmmmwuu ° Our sovereign covered his face, helpless to save her. Looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together. (Line 41-42)

The water of the Shu River is green, Shu Mountain is clear: Our royal lord, morning and night grieved. frgjumofe mnmmmmw» In the imperial palace, he glimpsed at the moon, colors that broke his heart, In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart. (Line 47-50)

Here the Emperor is depicted to be a reckless figure, who is trying to escape from reality, and at the same time, who is helpless to change it. In the end, the emperor's tragic experience leads him to sink into a state of emotional collapse. Bai successfully divorces his narrative from the stereotypical depiction of the emperor in a historical narrative, and completely transforms the historical account into a fictional romance within a realm of imaginative experience. In the end, Emperor Xuanzong in Bai's narrative is different from the same Emperor in the historical narrative; he is more of an individualistic character role with personality and unique emotion within the romantic aspect of his experience. 52

In narrative composition, a character type refers to something outside the character himself, it may refer to the most general sort of idea, a universal trait. In every case, whenever we consider a character as a type, we are moving away from considering him as an individual character and moving toward considering him or her as part of some large framework34. An "archetypal" character is simply a character of a certain type. Compared with the Emperor, Lady Yang is another primary character who is more of a stereotype than of an individual role in Bai Juyi's narrative. She is presented to the reader almost exclusively in terms of one facet of life- her romantic experience with the Emperor. Through the waxing and waning of her emotion, the reader can appreciate the lady's characterization more fully if they examine in some detail her vicarious experiences after death. Here Lady Yang is depicted as a fairy immortal in heaven, the description of her reaction to the news from her earthly partner reveals the character's inner feeling:

When she heard the Han court had sent an envoy from the Son of Heaven, Within the nine-flowered hanging curtains, her soul was awakened from dreams. wmmmmn, mmmmm ° She grasped her dress, pushed aside her pillow, rose and lingered, Pearled foils and silver panels opened down winding halls.

Her cloudlike coil half inclined to one side, she had newly-wakened from sleep, Her flower headgear was not set straight as she came down to the courtyard.

34 Reference from Robert Scholes, James Phelan, and Robert Kellgg, "Character in Narrative," p 204. The Nature of Narrative. Fortieth Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 53

The wind blew upon her immortal sleeves and whirled them up, As if this were the dance of the "Robe of Feathers and Rainbow Skirts."

On her jade face from loneliness, the tears were streaming down, Like a branch of pear blossoms bearing the rain of spring. (Line 91-100)

The words "awakened (M)" and "pushed aside (J§)" disclose the anxiousness of her emotion, and her eagerness to hear the message from her former lover by the envoy from earth. The imagery and metaphor used to describe her outward appearance enhance the desolate atmosphere of the touching emotion. She is like a single branch of pear blossom alone in the raining spring, "a branch of pear blossom" represents the pureness as well as the loneliness of her spirit. While she is separated from her beloved lord in earth, she regards her life in heaven as a burden. As the narrative continues, situation after situation, it develops so that she must be experiencing the most intensive emotions, as it proceeds serene to disclose the inner conflict of the character.

Another technique for presenting the internal life of a character is that of the

"interior monologue." It is a direct, immediate presentation of the unspoken thoughts of a character without any intervening narrator. It is a dramatic element like direct discourse in narrative literature, indeed, it can be presented only in narrative composition because only in narratives can it remain unspoken and yet be understood by the reader:

She restrained her emotions, fixed her gaze and thanked her lord: "Once we parted our voices and faces were elusive to one another, 102 54

Cut off was the love that was shared in the Court of the Bright Sun, Now days and months pass slowly in the Palace of Peng-lai. 104

But when I turn my head to gaze down to the realm of the mortal world, I do not see Chang-an, but only dust and fog." 106 'mmmmwm, m^mtmm^ °

She could only give the old things that were pledges of their love, An inlaid box and a golden hairpin were to be taken back with the envoy. 108

Lady Yang's interior monologue to her beloved lord suggests the desperateness of her inner emotion. Line 103-104 suggests her life in heaven, which also seems all bitter paradox. Line 105 -106 suggests that she has been cut off all connections with her lover in earth. Finally, the only way she can alleviate this sorrow is by sending a token which represents their former love to the Emperor. All her actions suggest the misery of her present circumstance, and consequently, she sinks into a state of emotional grief and laments that this sorrowful emotion will last forever in her heart.

Finally, the relationship between the characters indicates the dynamics in characterization, and connects the reader's experience all together in a given narrative.

In The Nature of Narrative, the authors defined two kinds of dynamics in the process of characterization: "the developmental, in which the character's personal qualities are attenuated so as clarify his progress along a plot line which has an ethical basis; and the chronological, in which the character's personal qualities are ramified so as to make more significant the gradual shifts worked in the character during a plot which 55

has a temporal basis."35

The primary characters in Bai Juyi's narrative are characterized by this ramification of emotions. Emperor Xuangzong's fluctuations in his emotional state shift gradually according to the chronological development of his experiences. At the beginning, he enjoyed the extravagant life style with his beloved concubine; his emotional state was fulfilled with happiness and delight. When the war-drum came, his emotion was in a state of chaos. After the death of his beloved, he then sunk deeper into a state of emotional despair. Consequently, this sorrowful emotion would last forever even after his death.

The poet creates a narrator as the reader's source of assessment of the characters, a secondary figure in the narrative cause the medium to unite those characters together in their related experience. For example, Bai Juyi 's creation of a Taoist adept in the last section on the heavenly experience connects the Emperor's experience in earth with Lady Yang's experience in heaven, and reveals the poet's intention to create an imaginative romantic experience. Therefore, the secondary figure of an immortal becomes a medium to bring together the historical experience with the fictional experience. After his beloved concubine Lady Yang has been killed in front of his eyes, the emperor's emotional despair has finally been brought to the highest point.

Within the passing of time and space, the emperor hoped for his lover's soul to be returned in his dream. In order to fulfill his dream, he sends a Taoist adept to search for the soul:

35 Reference from Robert Scholes, James Phelan, and Robert Kellgg, "Character in Narrative," p 169. The Nature of Narrative. Fortieth Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 56

A Taoist wizard of Ling-qiong was a voyager in the heavens Who by the perfection of essence could contact the sprits of the dead.

Moved by his constant, tossing longing, Our sovereign sought out this necromancer to search diligently for her. mmmmum, ^xm^m • He pushed aside the clouds and drove the air, rushing like lightning, Up into Heaven, down to Earth to seek for her everywhere. ±mmmrnm , mm$&&g^% • But from the jade-blue sky above to the yellow springs below,

Within both murky places, he could nowhere see her.

Suddenly he heard of a mountain of immortals on the sea, The mountain lay in the misty realm of emptiness; mm^nmmm, gw^#w?; Grand towers rose up from the five-color clouds, And in the midst of theses delights there were many graceful fairies; (Line 75-86)

The depiction of the characters' experience in the heavenly realm is an outstanding scene in this poem. It is a great moment for portraying the characters as well for conveying the emotions. Thus, the immortal as a fictional figure becomes a dominant figure in this scene that represents the transition of the experience between the earth and the heaven in the last part of the story. In the end, Bai Juyi fulfills his intention by merging the historical characters into his fictional creation.

In short, characterization is the product of a particular time and place, we are 57

most likely to evaluate the brilliancy of characterization in terms of its uniqueness and originality. The ideal readers of narratives must be prepared to respond to the emphasis of the narrative with respect to character, placing individuality or "typical" connection foremost to the extent which the narrative itself calls for such attention.

IV. Sequential Structure

There are several opinions on the macro structure of this poem. First of all, as for the two sections structure, some scholars in the field support this interpretation, even though they differ on the specific division point. The most representative is in You

Guoen's 1HS History of Chinese Literature 4^ HI >C IP i£36 > m which the divisional point is in line 26: "To not care for the birth of a boy, but cared for that of a girl ^fi^^SL^^C" The first part of the story describes the cause of the lasting pain, and it focuses on the description of the Emperor's extravagant life style with his beloved concubine. In the second part of the story, the poet places his sympathy on the tragic destiny of the lovers, with more emphasis on the expression of inner emotions of the protagonists rather than the description of events. In Wang Rubi's 3i

$C!JiB Bai Juyi's Selected Works SSI?®ft37, the author believes that the first part of the story is the realistic description of the characters' experience, while the second part is the imaginative portrayal of the experience. The structure of the second part obviously is influenced by the Transformation Texts {bianwen fH>0, with the depiction of worldly realm versus heavenly realm as well as the realistic versus imaginative language. Therefore, the divisional point for the two sections is line 75

36 You Guoen's jf g|J§. Zhong Guo Wen Xue Shi ^HKIf^ (—). Beijing: Ren Min Wen Xue Chu Ban She, 1963. 37 Wang Rubi's I&jjg Bai Juyi's Selected Works fcEMi'MM- Shang Hai: Shang Hai Gu Ji Chu Ban She, 1980. 58

-76: mzm±$m%, mmmwmm °

A Taoist wizard of Ling-qiong was a voyager in the heavens Who by the perfection of essence could contact the sprits of the dead. (Line75-76)

In short, the majority of the scholars in the twentieth century hold the two sections view. They mainly believe that the first section is the analogical part of the story while the second section is the romantic part of the story. The former aims to express the poet's political view of the ruler, while the latter aims to convey the personal emotion and to evoke the reader's sympathy of the tragic love story.

The three sections view is the most representative view on the structure of this poem. In Jin Jicang's fjfffijlr Chang Hen Ge Ji Tong Ti Cai Shi Xiang Jie HfJtljftR

W1MMWWM , he divides the poem into three parts. As I discussed in the second chapter, the first part ends at line 30: "All day long our sovereign could never gaze on her enough. 11E3 ftEES^AE: ," which describes the emperor's extravagant life with his beloved concubine, as well as the cause of An Lushan's rebellion. This part is the introduction of the story. The second part ends at line 74: "But her spirit could never find a way to once enter his dreams. i6fl!i^'ft*3i5Al^," which describes the emperor's mourning of his deceased wife as well as the loneliness in his old age. The imagery and metaphors used in describing the outward scenes and objects touch the readers' emotions as well as evoke the readers' resonance towards the tragic fate of the protagonists in their experiences. Thus, the second part is the development of story, which aims to explore the inner emotions and reveals the consequences of the former

38 Jin Ji-cang's ffflif Chang Hen Ge Ji Tong Ti Cai Shi Xiang Jie MtSlKK. H®Wf#lfM- Zheng Zhou: Zhong Zhou Gu Ji Press, 1989. 59

experience. The third part depicts a heavenly realm, in which a Taoist priest sent by the emperor finds Lady Yang's soul. Lady Yang exchanges messages and tokens for love to her lord in earth. This is the most touching part of the story, in which the lovers are forever separated within different realms; their sorrowful longing for each other becomes endless.

Lastly, there are also four and five section views in terms of the structure of the poem. In Gao Buying's jBj^M Tang Song Shi Ju Yao Jl|7f5flflp|c 9, the author holds the four sections view. The first section ends at line 32: "Suddenly breaking apart the melodies of the 'Robe of Feathers and Rainbow Skirts, ftfiSftaS^RKft,'" which describes the rise of Lady Yang's position. The second section ends at line 50:

"In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart. ^BMirjiillitfS?," which describes the Ma-wei incident and the emperor's escape to Shu. The third section ends at line 74: "But her spirit could never find a way to once enter his dreams.

^M/f^^.?\W" ar>d the rest is the last section of the story. The division of the last two sections basically follows the previous views on the structure. In Su

Zhongxiang 's MWf& Yuan Bai Shi Xuan jt&WM™, the author divides the poem into five sections. The first section ends at line 26: "To not care for the birth of a boy, but care for that of a girl, ^fi^JBlijfcfc" which describes the imperial patronage of the Lady Yang and the privileges enjoyed by her family members. The second section ends in line 54: "He could not see her jade face, the place where she died was empty. ^M3£i|2g^EM>" which describes the consequence of the An Lushan

39 Gao Buying's iSJiPifi Tang Song Shi Ju Yao SfSfcfrf^K- Shang Hai: Shang Hai Gu Ji Chu Ban She, 1978. 40 Su Zhongxiang's MWM Yuan Bai Shi Xuan x;Sf#3i. Shang Hai: Gu Dian Wen Xue Chu Ban She, 1957. 60

rebellion, which leads to the death of Lady Yang and the emperor's escape to the south. The third section ends in line 74, the fourth section ends in line 100: "Like a branch of pear blossoms bearing the rain of spring, l^ft—U^^ffi," which describes the Taoist priest experiences of searching for Lady Yang's soul. The last section centers on the description of Lady Yang's reaction, and points out of the theme of the "everlasting pain."

In addition to the macro structure, there are several micro sequences embedded in this poem. Firstly, in line 43-50, the poet uses external landscapes to order the sequencing in describing Emperor Xuanzong's sorrow for losing his beloved concubine: mmmmmm, mmm%?&mm ° The yellow dust dispersed, the wind blew desolate, The plank way into the clouds twisted around to climb up to the Sword Pavilion.

At the foot of the E-mei Mountain a few people passed, Banners and flags shed no light, sunlight was slight. m&mmm, mmmmmm >• The water of the Shu River is green, Shu Mountain is clear: Our royal lord, morning and night grieved.

In the imperial palace, he glimpsed at the moon, colors that broke his heart, In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart.

The focus of narration begins from an external nature landscape of yellow dust spreading and wind blowing desolately as the emperor passes through the Jian E pass, 61

surrounded by the severe weather. Then it gradually shifts to the desolate natural landscape at the foot of Mount E-mei, where travelers are few, the royal banners shed no light, and the sunbeams are pale. Both of the couplets describe the human artifical objects within the control of nature, as if to say that human beings are manipulated and controlled by external nature rather than themselves. Afterwards, the focus of description shifts to the Shu Landscape, then moves to the sorrowful moonlight scene in an exile's palace that deepens the pain in the emperor's heart, and finally ends with the sad sound of bells in the night rain that fills him with sorrow.

Secondly, there are some anachronistic narrative sequences embedded in Bai

Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow." The first internal prolepsis appears in the beginning couplet, it provides a summary for the whole story, the imperial romance leads to the destruction of the kingdom. The rest of the work appears to be in a chronological order until its concluding section. Following the initial couplet, which foreshadows the upcoming event, the narrator begins with an account of the first encounter of the lovers, Emperor Xuanzong and Lady Yang, then recounts their romantic experience, and the sudden advent of the rebellion led by An Lushan, then Lady Yang's sucide at the Ma-wei Slope, consequently the emperor's grief during and after his exile, and finally the emperor's sending of a Taoist immortal to search for Lady's soul in heaven.

It is not until the Taoist immortal finds Lady Yang in heaven, that the chronological sequence is interrupted with the insertion of a retrospective segment from Line 102 -

112. The narrator becomes completely omniscient, the narrative voice and the perspective shift inside the character, the character Lady Yang and the narrator merged 62

into one. Lady Yang then goes on to describe her endless sorrow and longing for her lord after death. After this, the first narrative resumes and ends the poem with the poet's comment on this tragic romance. The entire temporal field of this retrospection remains internal to that of the first narrative, and it ends before the point where the first narrative is interrupted.

V. Imagery and Metaphors

It is often through verbal analysis of Chinese poetry that we come to perceive which kind of world is being explored and what kind of language is being used in the poetic composition. The art of narrative poetry is essentially the art of utterance within certain space and time of poetic experience. In the verbal analysis of narrative poetry, imagery and symbolism occupy an important place. They help the reader to perceive the poet's intention as well as to access the poet's creative ability and compositional style in his work.

First of all, in James J. Y. Liu's The Art of Chinese Poetry, he defines "image" as an expression, such as metaphor, simile, etc., which is used to denote a verbal expression that evokes a mental picture or recalls a physical sensation, not necessarily visual41. There are numerous examples of imagery found in Chinese poetry, for it is the nature of poetic language to be concrete rather than abstract. Moreover, the language in Chinese poetry is extremely concise, in which a line can contain several images which arouse sensory sensations and enhance the poetic experience.

41 James J. Y. Liu. The Art of Chinese Poetry p 102. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1962. 63

In Bai Juyi's poem, he successfully uses this rhetorical device to create for later generation of poetry lovers a classical interpretation of Emperor Xuanzong's romantic tragedy. Bai places his emphasis on the description of the emotional state of the primary characters, the Emperor and his beloved concubine Lady Yang. By using several forms of imagery, such as metaphor and personification, the poet searches for the connection between his characters and natural entities. Metaphor is derived from

Greek word "metaphora", which means transfer. It is a kind of rhetorical device that directly compares seemingly unrelated objects; more specifically, it describes a first subject as "being" or "equal" to a second subject in some way. For example, there are several lines in Bai's poem that use this rhetoric:

Her cloud like hair and her flowery face, the golden hairpins sways to her steps, Within Lotus-embroidered bed curtains they passed the spring nights in warmth. (Line 13- 14) mmwmmtam, mmm^mm ?

The lotuses looked like her face, the willows seemed like her brows, Facing such scenes how could he help but weep? (Line 59 - 60) f»L4M$fflM, A±AP^#fflM °

If only our love can be as firm as this golden hairpin and inlaid box,

In heaven or in the human realm we will meet again." (Linel 11-112)

As one of the commonly used rhetorical devices in literature, especially in poetry, metaphor appears where with few words, emotions and associations from one context are associated with objects and emotions in a different context. In the above couplets,

Bai compares the similarity of nature of the two objects to create a metaphor which 64

creates a more vivid and forceful representation of one of the objects. In line 13,

"hair" is compared with "cloud" and "face" is compared with "flowers." In line 59,

"face" is to be compared with "lotus" and "eyebrows" are compared with "willow branches". In line 111, "the strongest heart" is to be compared with "the firm golden hairpin" and "the inlaid box." The first subject of the comparison must be specifically described because the implicit and explicit attributes from the second subject are used to enhance the description of the first. In short, a metaphor is generally considered to be more forceful and active than an analogy. Other rhetorical devices involving comparison share much in common with metaphor but are usually distinguished by the manner in which the comparison between subjects is delivered.

Secondly, a symbol is a physical object chosen to represent something abstract and it has a universal significance in contrast to a compound image which only has a local significance. The term symbolism is often used in contrast to representationalism, symbolism may refer to a way of choosing representative symbols in line with abstract properties, allowing for the broader interpretation of a carried meaning than more literal concept-representations allow. All forms of language are innately symbolic, and any system of symbols can form a language, even a binary system. Here are some symbols found in Bai Juyi's poem:

When she turned her eyes with one smile, a hundred charms were revealed, The painted beauties of the Six Palaces seemed to dim their colors. (Line 7-8)

There the six armies would not budge, without any reason, 65

Until they persuaded his moth-browed beauty would die in front of the horses. (L37-8)

On her jade face from loneliness, the tears were streaming down,

Like a branch of pear blossoms bearing the rain of spring. (Line 99 -100)

In line 7, powder and black (ife)S) is a symbol used to denote well-dressed painted ladies. In Bai's narrative in particular, it further represents the concubines in the imperial palaces. In line 38, moth-browed OHM) is often used to describe the facial appearance of a beauty, it is a generally recognized symbol for a beautiful lady. One of the characteristics in Chinese poetry is its restrained but suggestive compositional style. By using moth like eyebrow, which denotes the figure of Lady Yang, the poet is trying to avoid the direct appearance of the name and is trying to reveal a sense of sentimental emotion expressed through his imaginative symbolism. In the hands of

Bai Juyi, the pear blossom 0&Vc) develops into a symbol not only of moral purity but also of loneliness which represents the figure of the Lady as well as her doomed destiny. In short, the above examples illustrate how a conventional symbol can be modified in its most significant and emotional associations by its context, which helps the reader to appreciate in more depth the sensory emotions enhanced from the poet's creative experience. Chapter Four: Comparative Studies

I. From "The joyful kingdom" to "Song of Eternal Sorrow"

Transformation Texts (bianwen §t]53 as a popular literary genre developed from

Buddhist narratives, it is a form of oral narrative that flourished during the Tang dynasty. Most of the texts are characterized by its prominent narrative features, which begins with a Buddhist story and then transforms the story into popular folk stories.

The narrative devices adopted in bianwen are different from the pure Buddhist Texts or Sutras. The transformational progress from the beginning Buddhist story into a developed common folk story depends on the techniques of narration, which includes the point of view, characterization, sequence structure, as well as the language rhetorics. The main purpose of this narrative genre is to spread the Buddhism doctrine and belief.

In Zheng Zhenduo WMW* Zhong Guo Su Wen Xue Shi tpM&St^^., the author regards bian wen as a "link" between the ancient literature with the modern literature42. If acts like a bridge that connects the Pre-Tang literature with the

Post-Tang new born literature. Bianwen as an oral form of literature enjoyed widespread popularity during the Tang to Five dynasty periods. First of all, the narrative performance is simple to carry on, with a group of Buddhist monks chanting a story from a particular transformation text during public gatherings. Secondly, because the content of this particular literary genre is easy to understand, it fits the tastes of the less educated social class.

42 Zheng Zhenduo Wg&M. Zhong Guo Su Wen Xue Shi ^IM{§SCfl*tfe. Zuo Jia Press, 1954.

66 67

However, some of the people from the educated literati class also favored this particular from of literature, such as Bai Juyi, who is an ardent follower of the bian wen performance. As James J. Y. Liu points out, poetry is a re-creation of former stories, embedded in a different emotional expression. Bai Juyi successfully bestows the Buddhist story with new meaning, which expresses human emotions, his work thus agreed with and was favored by the general public audiences. As the Buddhist scholar Chen Yunji W.itl=j points out in his book Tang Shi Zhong De Fo Jiao Si

Xiang MW-^^i%$iL^M, he believes that the story from Bai Juyi's work is influenced by the Buddhist bian wen text "The Joyful Kingdom" ("Huan Xi Guo

Wang Yuan" ^SHUi)43.

The bianwen story "The Joyful Kingdom" is about the romance between the King of the joyful Kingdom with his beloved wife You Xiang. Lady You Xiang is the most beautiful and talented woman in the kingdom. She is also good at dancing and capable of pleasing the emperor, therefore, she enjoys the most patronage among all other palace beauties. One day, when she was performing a dance for the king, the king saw that above the lady's head, there appeared a cluster of misty air, which foresees that the lady's body is going to decease within seven days. After he told the lady this sad omen, the beloved partners became grave, and the lady wept to say farewell to her lord and her families. At this moment, she heard from someone that there is a nun named Bi Qiu from a nearby mountain, who is good at practicing the way of the doctrine, and the lady then went to seek for her help. Nun Bi Qiu warned the lady that

43 Chen, Yunji W.j£a Tang Shi Zhong De Fo Jiao Si Xiang. Taipei: Shang Ding Wen Hua Press, 1993. 68

she should really not keep thinking of life in the worldly realm, instead, she should request for ascending up to heaven in order to clear out the eight commandments.

When the lady returned to palace, after seven days, her body deceased and her soul went up into heaven. The king felt heart broken for the death of his beloved wife, half a year passed, the lady's soul in heaven along with other heavenly fairies went to the earth to visit the king. You Xiang lady told the king not to keep thinking of the earthly affairs, instead, he should really go up to heaven together with her to cultivate the

Buddhist conduct. The king listened to the advice and passed away soon, his soul then went to heaven together with the soul of his beloved wife. The purpose of the story is to spread the Buddhist doctrine, the belief that every earthly thing follows the rule of retribution. Buddhism declares that life is impermanent. The only solution for this uncertainty in life is to become a Buddhist and to practice Buddhist conduct.

Therefore, the bianwen story is heavily embedded with Buddhist messages to convey the meaning of moral cultivation of Buddhist doctrine.

Compared with Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow," first of all, the story line of

Bai Juyi's poem is in parallel with "the Joyful Kingdom," except that the functions of the stories are quite different from each other. "The Joyful Kingdom" is more didactic than "Song of Eternal Sorrow," the former aims at preaching to people and converting them into Buddhists, the latter aims at expressing personal feeling and remonstrating the present ruler to avoid improper conducts. Bai Juyi therefore injects into his story a quite different emotional feeling. Both of the stories focus on the romance between the Emperor and his beloved wife, and express the deep grief of the Emperor for the 69

death of his partner. The passion of love in the human world is the key to analyze the theme of these two stories. In "The Joyful Kingdom," the theme is to teach Buddhist doctrines by addressing the principle of retribution in the worldly realm, and affirming the impermanence of human life, finally concluding that practicing the

Buddhist doctrine is the only way for salvation. The story narrates that after the death of Lady You Xiang, the Emperor sinks into a state of emotional grief and despair, and he suffers from the impermanence of human emotions. The Emperor's tragic experience evokes the emotional resonance in the audience; the audience can feel the sorrow and uncertainty in human life. Thus, by linking the cause of this uncertainty to the principle of retribution, a Buddhist bianwen story aims at conducting moral teachings rather than expressing the author's own emotional feelings. In "Song of

Eternal Sorrow," the theme is to express the eternity of love, and the poet also embedded his own feelings towards this love, which is an everlasting sorrow because of the separation between the two lovers. The poet's composition thus is a reflection of his personal experience, once as a young man he had once fallen in love with a lady but was separated in the end. The poet unconsciously associates with his inner emotions to the emotions of his characters in his composition. Therefore, the features of characters in his story are more mimetic. In contrast, the Buddhist text tends to be more didactic.

Secondly, Bai Juyi's composition was heavily influenced by the Dunhuang bianwen narrative, in terms of structure the last section in Bai Juyi's "Song of the

Eternal Sorrow" narrates the events that happened after Lady Yang's death, from both 70

the perspective of the Emperor in earth then Lady Yang's perspective as a heavenly immortal. There is preserved in Japan an important illustrated scroll entitled Bussetsu

Mokuren kyiibo kyo [Sutra on Maudgaly ay ana's Saving of His Mother] f$jf$i |=| JUS

SIS- Some scholars had once commented that Bai's lines, "But from the jade-blue sky above to the yellow spring below Jilltlf ^ITif Jlc; within both mirky places, he could nowhere see her S^lcft'llf'^JIL (Line 79-80)" were initiated from this text.

This kind of literary form is also reflected in the compositions of prosmetric text (11 flH:VC), in which the content of the Buddhist stories enjoys widespread popularity during the period. The depiction of the heavenly realm in Bai Juyi's work is obviously adapted from the Buddhist story, which depicts the transformation from the worldly realm into the heavenly realm.

As Victor H. Mair has pointed out in his Tang Transformation Texts, the interpretation of chu ($1 place) in Dunhuang narrative functions as a marker of narrative locus. In Bussetsu Mokuren kyiibo kyo [Sutra on Maudgalydyana 's Saving of

His Mother] f^iS@SSSIM, there are cartouches on the pictures and the inscriptions therein usually consist of a short description of the scene depicted that ends with the word tokoro (M "place")44. This usage has a direct relationship to the chu in the verse-introductory formula of transformation texts. In "Song of the Eternal

Sorrow," "Beneath the nud under the Ma-wei Slope ,l|jlLij£TMi1-K he could not see her jade face, the place where she died ^^BiM^^EM (Line 53-54);" "But when I turn my head to gaze down to the realm of the mortal world IMlsHl^^AS^OiJ

44 Mair, Victor H. T'ang Transformation Texts. Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London: Harvard University Press, 1989. 71

I do not see Chang-an, but only dust and fog ^fMM$M,M9S (Line 105-106);" the function of chu ($1 place) as an indication of location is evident for the narration of plot development. This usage of chu in the sense of "time when" thus occurs sporadically in shi poetry as early as the middle of the eighth century. It also becomes more frequent in Song lyric meters and Yuan drama. This interpretation is substantiated by the frequently encountered parallel, Buddhist usage in texts and on the paintings of shi 0# as "'narrative' moment 'pictorially represented or visualized'."

In "Song of Eternal Sorrow", Bai Juyi also adopts the term shi E£f to indicate the transition for the plot development. "The attendants helped her up, so delicate and helpless, that was the moment when she first received the imperial favour "The attendants helped her up, so delicate and helpless ^Q$$S$k$k~£}', that was the moment when she first received the imperial favour ttaMMx^-^W^ (Line 11-12);"

"On days when peaches and plums blossomed in the breeze of spring, at the moment the autumn rains and the wutong trees shed their leaves in season ^Sfife^ftHf-! @,

^Mtntlfll^irHTf (Line 61-62);" and "On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity, it was midnight, with no one else there, we exchanged a secret vow "On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity -tr^l

"t 0 JI4iJ§b it was midnight, with no one else there, we exchanged a secret vow ^

^iffiXfclgBf (Line 115-116)." The given "time" and "place" hence are correspondingly stretched to include the total span of durational or spatial occurrence for the development of the narratives.

To conclude, Chinese narrative poetry was partly the derivation of Dunhuang 72

bian wen. Clearly these were texts of extraordinary significance for the subsequent development of the popular literature genre in China. The interplay between the two genres creates a revolutionary transformation of the Chinese poetic tradition, which made possible the flowering of the subsequent development of fiction and drama. The comparison of Bai Juyi's narrative work with Dunhuang bianwen texts creates a model for the understanding of the interrelationship between different literary genres.

II. Comparison with "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'"

The relationship between "Song of Eternal Sorrow" with "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" is explicit in that the latter is a preface summary of the former. The former emphasizes on the fictional aspect, while the latter emphasizes on the historical account. The purpose of the composition of "An Account to go with the

'Song of Eternal Sorrow"' is as Chen Hong states in the last section of his preface:

It is my supposition that he (Bai Juyi) was not only moved by the event, but he also wanted to offer warning about such creatures that can so enthrall a man, to block the phases by which troubles come, and to leave this for the future. When the song was finished, he had me write a prose account for it .

The author holds a historical attitude for narrating the event, in order to offer his advice and admonishment for the future rulers of the state. He also believes that the deep emotion embedded in the story is of utmost importance in understanding Bai

Juyi's composition of the poem. Chen Hong then goes on to propose that this emotion aims to warn future rulers of the state. He might be correct in pointing out this one aspect in Bai Juyi's composition; however, Chen overlooks the importance of the

This part of translation comes from Stephen Owen's Anthology of Chinese Literature, p 452. 73

poetic composition as self-expression apparently revealed through Bai's narrative. By comparing the similarity in compositional structure and contrasting the difference in their narrative techniques, my purpose is to point out the interplay of narrative content in both of the works as well as to address the historical significance of the these two compositions.

First of all, in the end of Chen Hong's account, he states "When the song was finished, he (Bai Juyi) had me write a prose account for it.46" We know that Chen's composition originates from Bai's former composition on the same topic. Generally speaking, Chen's account transforms the heptasyllabic quatrain style of one hundred twenty sentences of Bai Juyi's poem into a prose account of one thousand one hundred and nineteen words. There are about two hundred and seventy words more in

Chen Hong's account. Except in two or three places, where the order of the events has been reversed, the structure of story follows the same sequence appeared in Bai Juyi's work. For instance, the similarity of the description can be found from Bai's line

23-26:

Her sisters and brothers were all ranked in royal titles, A glory that any would envy rose up from her family. 24

This caused the hearts of mothers and fathers throughout the empire, To not care for the birth of a boy, but care for that of a girl. 26

In Chen Hong's account, he describes in the third paragraph:

Her father, her uncle, and her brothers were all given high honorary offices and

46 Chen Hong's account preface: See Bai Bu Cong Shu Ji Cheng HuUSIUiftfiSc, Taipei, 1965 -. 74

were raised to ranks of Nobility Equal to the Royal House. Her sisters were enfeoffed as Ladies of Domains. Their wealth matched that of the royal house; and their carriages, clothes, and mansions were on a par with the Emperor's aunt, Princess Taichang. Yet in power and the benefits of imperial favor, they surpassed her. They went in and out of the royal palace unquestioned, and the senior officers of the capital would turn their eyes away from them. There were doggerel rhymes in those days that went: If you have a girl, don't feel sad; if you have a boy, don't feel glad. And: "The boy won't be a noble, but the daughter may be queen; so look on your daughters now as the glory of the clan." To such a degree were they envied by people. 47

Chen Hong's section provides a detailed description of Bai Juyi's couplet. Generally speaking, the style of poetry is supposed to be condensed and restrained, and the prose account is supposed to be persuasive in its description of the details. The characteristics in Chen's account are the explicit description of the detail and the plain narration of the events, which directs the reader's attention towards the development of the story and the experience of the protagonists. On the other hand, the explicitness of the language suppresses the imaginative description of the imagery and events; the straight narration of events also becomes less suggestive and metaphorical than the poetic expression in Bai's composition. In the end, Chen's "plain" account makes

Bai's poem seem more fulfilled with emotion. It is less successful in evoking the reader's emotional resonance towards the event and the characters. It in fact creates a specific record of a tragic imperial love story rather than creating heroic characters for the reader to remark on.

Secondly, Bai Juyi adopts more of the fictional narrative techniques in his poem,

This part of translation comes from Stephen Owen's Anthology of Chinese Literature, p 449. 75

while Chen Hong adopts most of the historical narrative techniques in his account.

For instance, the beginning of the passage in each work reveals the difference between the fictional account with the historical account of the story. Bai Juyi at the beginning uses "Han's Emperor (Line 1)" in order to avoid the direct reference to the real the Tang emperor. In contrast, Chen Hong uses directly reference to the period as

"the Kaiyuan reign (Line 1)" in his account. The rhetoric of language in Bai Juyi's fictional account successfully discloses layers of meanings embedded in the story. By choosing the Emperor of Han dynasty instead of others, the poet is trying to make a connection between the two rulers in different periods. In addition, as is shown is the later message, the Han Emperor Wudi's concubine Zhao Fei-yan is also being compared with the Tang Emperor's consort Lady Yang. The rhetoric thus fills up the poet's own imagination and aims to reveal the hidden parallel behind the historical experience. The poet is also trying to avoid any consequence, which might be caused by the direct reference.

The difference between Chen Hong's explicit quotation of the time with Bai's implicit representation is because of the different approaches held by the two authors.

In Chen Hong's case, he adopts historical narrative technique to record a story, the point of view in his story is more authoritarian. In contrast, in Bai Juyi's story, the point of view of the author is more emphasized on a direct expression of personal feelings and opinions of the event. Thus, the point of view in historical narratives tends to be less personal compared to the point of view in fictional narratives. In addition to the point of view, the characters portrayed in these two kinds of narratives 76

also differ in their features. The characters in the fictional narratives tend to be more individualized, while in the historical narratives, the characters tend to be more stereotyped. The individualization of character roles in Bai Juyi's work is achieved by asserting the poet's own point of view on his characters experience. In other words, the poet unconsciously associates his personal experience with the experience of his characters in the story. In the end, the characteristics of his characters tend to be more personal and less universal. In contrast, in the historical narratives, the author holds an authoritarian view towards the narration of the experience of the historical characters.

The historical figures are characterized by types rather than roles. For example, the character Lady Yang in Chen Hong's account is portrayed to be a negative figure that is harmful to the kingdom. The author thus associates a generalized view that "woman is like muddy water who brings disaster" to the characterization of the figure in the historical narratives. He places on his characters more of the historical experience in his story, and overlooks the personal romantic experience of the characters. In the end, the characters in the historical narratives are featured as universal stereotypes. In contrast, the characters in the fictional narratives are feature as individualized roles.

Finally, the order of the events has been reversed in two places in Chen Hong's account. One place in Bai's poem is in Line 107-108: ra »»«, m^mmm* • She could only give the old things that were pledges of their love, An inlaid box and a golden hairpin were to be taken back with the envoy.

In Bai Juyi's work, the poet uses the "backward narration" (daoxu {£\\T$.)4S to reveal

Backward Narration: daoxu iH!|$£, see Gerard Genette, Narrative Discourse, pp 35-47; see also Bai, Narratology, 77

the events happened in the past during the present development of the story. While in

Chen Hong's account, he describes in the first paragraph that:

On the day he had her brought to meet him, he ordered the melody "Coats of Feathers, Rainbow Skirts" played to precede her. And on the eve when their love was consummated, he gave her, as proofs of his love, a golden hairpin and an inlaid box.49

This description of the event at the beginning foreshadows the description in the end that:

She grew wistful and gestured to her servant to get a golden hairpin and inlaid box, each of which she broke in parts. She gave one part of each to the envoy, saying: "Express my gratitude to the Emperor and present him these objects as mementos of our former love."50

The other place that appears as backward narration is in line 31-32 in Bai's work:

Then the battle-drums from Yu-yang came, shaking the earth, Suddenly breaking apart the melodies of the "Robe of Feathers and Rainbow Skirts."

This is a transitional point from the peaceful palace life into the chaotic warfare. The dance of the rainbow skirt thus represents the hedonistic life style of the Emperor with his beloved concubine. Instead of using the dance title as a transitional point, Chen

Hong uses plain narration at the beginning of the second paragraph to describe the change of the imperial situation.

At the end of the Tian-bao Reign, her uncle Yang Guo-zhong stole the position of Chancellor and abused the power he held. When An Lushan led his troops in an

pp 83 - 97.

Stephen Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, p. 448. Stephen Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, p. 451. 78

attack on the imperial palace, he used punishing Yang Guo-zhong as his pretext.

Chen Hong's plain description of the event is the basic narrative technique applied in the composition of the historical narratives. Apparently, Bai Juyi's imaginative and symbolic description of the dance as an indication of the An Lu-shan rebellion surpasses Chen Hong's plain narration of the event. In addition, Chen Hong places the dance title towards the end of his narrative, in order to represent the Emperor's memory of the happy times with his beloved.

Every day of spring or night of winter, when the lotuses in the ponds opened in summer or when the palace ashtrees shed their leaves in autumn, the performers of the Pear Garden Academy would produce notes on their jade flageolets; and if he heard one note of "Coat of Feather, Rainbow Skirts," his Majesty's face would lose its cheer, and all those around him would sob and sigh.

The dance title has been quoted twice in Chen Hong's narrative, in the beginning and towards the end, which signifies the imagery of the Lady Yang when she performs the dance for the Emperor. The symbolic imagery provides a contrast between the emperor's past glories with the present loneliness in his old age, which evokes the reader's resonance towards the protagonist's tragic circumstances.

III. Comparison with The Palace of Eternal Youth

The Palace of Eternal Youth by Hong Sheng in Qing Dynasty is one of the most popular dramas based on the former composition of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal

Sorrow" as well as Chen Hong's "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal

Sorrow.'" This dramatic form of the literary work has a happy union ending. It focuses not only on description of the romance, but also on reflecting the life of the

51 Stephen Owen, Anthology of Chinese Literature, p. 449. 52 Stephen Owen's Anthology of Chinese Literature, p 450. 79

people during the Qing period. Love is the focus for the development of the dramatic conflict. The final reunion transforms the genre of the story from a tragedy into a tragic comedy. The structure of the story divides into two parts, the first part develops the conflict within the tragic human realm, while the second part is devoted to the salvation within the heavenly realm. The tragedy in the real world and the comedy in the heavenly realm forms a contrast between the two worlds. It is possible to say that the two parts are interdependent; it is impossible to construct the conflict between the two realms without either of the two. The conflict also makes a contrast between the real and the heavenly aspects of emotion. The pure love lies in the heavenly realm, only within the heavenly realm, can one find the pureness of emotion.

IV. Comparison with "Tale of Yingying"

As for these two works, one a long narrative poem, the other a Tang tale, what are the similarities and differences? Firstly, these two works do not stand alone. Bai

Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" is accompanied by Chen Hong's "An Account of

Song of Eternal Sorrow", while Yuan Zhen's "Tale of Yingying" is accompanied by Li

Shen's "Song of Yingying." Secondly, these two sets of compositions experienced different degrees of popularities according to their different forms. "Song of Eternal

Sorrow" is more popular than its account; in contrast, "Song of Yingying" enjoys less popularity than its tale form. It is perhaps because the successful portrayal of individualistic characters leads to the two more popular wors to stand out among their contemporaries. In Bai Juyi's work, the poet successfully portrays a self-conflicted figure of the emperor, the poet places his emphasis on the expression of the 80

characters' internal emotions and feelings rather than the description of the external events. In Yuan Zhen's work, this self-conflicted emotion has also been embedded into the female heroine Yingying's experiences. Even though the two works differ in their forms, the self-conflicted emotions embedded in their narratives are in parallel relations.

Their styles of composition had been influenced by the antiquity movement during the Yuanhe reign. Generally speaking, during the Zhenyuan and Yuanhe periods, ancient style poetry and prose, and Tang tales had gradually developed to form their unique styles. The common feature in their styles is that their language of composition is inclined to plainer in various degrees. However, most important, is the change of topics compared with the former compositions. Firstly, there are more works focusing on the life stories of the common civilians, such as Bai Juyi's "The

Old Man Sells Charcoal." The depiction of the tragic life experience of these figures reveals the poet's deliberate attention to the life of the people in the lower levels of society. Secondly, there are more works focusing on the romance of different people from different social backgrounds. For example, Yuan Zhen's "Tale of Yingying" can be seem as an autobiographical romantic story. The tale talks about the romance of the literati class in the society. Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" used historical romance as a background for the poet's fictional composition. His story focuses on the romance of the emperor with his favorite concubine. In addition, in Bai Xingjian's

"Tale of Li Wa", the author places his emphasis on the romance in the lower level of society, a romantic affair with a prostitute. To conclude, the content of the works 81

during the Zhenyuan period focuses more on the current political and social issues. As

Bai Juyi once stated, the purpose of the composition is for reflecting the issues of the current time and current situation. Perhaps we can also perceive this literary approach as a more inclusive during the period.

V. Comparsion with Japanese Noh play Yokihi

One of the plays in Japanese Noh theatre Yokihi (fJ§j=L #3) is also based on this

Tang dynasty romance. The content of the play also derives from Bai Juyi's "Song of

Eternal Sorow", but the dramatic conflict is not based on the development of the plot.

The play focuses on one specific scene to display a Taoist immortal coming to the

Penglai Heavenly Mountain, searching for Lady Yang's soul for the earthly Emperor

Minghuang. The immortal finds Lady Yang and conveys the Emperor's message to her, Lady Yang then begins to narrate her longing for her lord and sighs for her uncertain destiny. Finally, she leaves the tokens of their love and their love vows to the immortal as her reply to the Emperor. In Yokihi, there are direct quotations from the lines in Bai's work, as well as the quotation of phrases from it. Meanwhile, it also borrows elements from Hong Sheng's The Palace of Eternal Youth. For example, the title of Tai-zhen Palace in Yokihi is directly adopted from the Tai Zhen Consort' s

Palace in Hong Sheng's drama.

Even though the piece is a dramatic work, its content is much simpler than Bai's poem. The intense monologue by the female protagonist appears to be the main feature in Yokihi. It portrays Lady Yang as a heavenly immortal who is still longing for her earthly romantic lover. In contrast, Bai Juyi and Chen Hong both separate the 82

character into two stages of composition, as a human being in the first stage and as a heavenly immortal in the second stage. Lady Yang in the Japanese Noh play appears to be more of a ghostly immortal than the pure immortal in the Chinese composition.

Because the depiction of wandering ghosts recounting their lifetime memories is one of the traditional forms in the Japanese Noh play, the character's identity embodies both the Chinese Tang tale and the traditional Noh form into one play. The depiction of the Penglai Heavenly realm in all of them reveals the similarity in the expression of the theme, Lady Yang's everlasting life in Peng-lai Heavenly realm parallels Emperor

Ming-hang's everlasting sorrow in the Palace of the earthly world.

VI. Conclusion:

In the history of Chinese literature, Bai Juyi has been placed as one of the forerunners whose compositions belong to the realistic poetic style during the

Mid-Tang period. First of all, Bai Juyi emphasizes the importance of the function of

Literature (fengyushi IK Df] f#) and suppresses the importance of the lyrical sentimental poetry (ganshangshi ifSfHiKf). In other words, the poem such as "Qin

Zhong Yin Hi^tt^", an example from the Music Bureau Poetry (yuefushi ^MW), it can be regarded as one of Bai Juyi's analogical poems with political intentions. The composition of "Song of Eternal Sorrow" aims to express the poet's personal emotion touched by events, and has less to do with the poet's political ambition. From a purely artistic point of view, a lyrical poem strikes the importance of conveying personal feeling while an analogical poem aims at expressing social commentary and constructing a didactic point of view. As a result, the emotional resonance that an 83

analogical poem can bring is less touching for the general public than the emotional resonance in a lyrical poem. The narrative techniques adopted by Bai Juyi in his composition construct individualized character roles and tell a vivid romantic story which enjoyed widespread popularity for several generations.

The subject matter of the composition originates from historical records of the romance of the Tang Emperor Xuan-zong with his beloved concubine Lady Yang

Yuhuan during the Tianbao reign. From a historical perspective, the romance of the

Emperor has always been one of the most favorable subjects chosen by the literati in their composition. For instance, the romance of Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty with his beloved Lady Zhao Feiyan, as well as the Emperor Yuandi of Han with his Lady

Wang Zhaojun, both are the popular subjects favored by literati in their compositions.

The authors of those works usually inject their own creative impulse and metaphorical language into the composition, in order for them to construct an imaginative story and to portray individualized characters. Therefore, we can see the difference in the structure as well as the difference in the characteristic of the characters in each work.

In the end, the difference in the narrative mode, fictional versus historical, applied by individual authors with different intentions brings out a diversity of the compositional style by different authors.

Finally, the beautification of the imperial romance focuses on the emotional perspective rather than the historical perspective, thus creating a sorrowful and sentimental story for the historical romance. Bai Juyi's story differs in that he personifies his characters and fictionalizes the experience in the story, rather than the 84

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88 Appendix: Translation and Chinese Texts

Song of Eternal Sorrow (Bai Juyi, 772 - 846)

Han's Emperor prized beauty, and longed for such as overturns an entire country,

For many years his majesty searched for one in vain. 2

A daughter of the Yang family, just about grown,

Raised up in the inner chambers - no one recognized her yet. 4

A born beauty is difficult to abandon,

So one morning she was chosen to be by her sovereign's side. 6

When she turned her eyes with one smile, a hundred charms were revealed,

The painted beauties of the Six Palaces seemed to dim their colors. 8 mmm%mmm , M&frmmmm °

In the cold of early spring she had been allowed to bath in the Huaqing Pool,

The warm spring's glistening water polished her shining smooth skin. 10

The attendants helped her up, so delicate and helpless,

That was the moment when she first received the imperial favour. 12

89 Her clouds like hair and her flowery face, the golden hairpins sway to her steps,

Within Lotus-embroidered bed curtains they passed the spring nights in warmth. 14

The spring nights seemed all too short, the sun would soon rise high,

From this time on our sovereign would not attend the early court. 16

She served his pleasure and treated feasts to her lord without pause,

Enjoyed their springtime in outings of spring, spent their nights only with each other.

There were three thousand other beauties in his sovereign's palace,

For him, all their three thousand charms were fixed in one body. 20

In the golden chamber, her toilette complete, she tenderly attended his nights,

In the jade mansion, feasts were finished, their drunkenness harmonized with spring delights. 22

Her sisters and brothers were all ranked in royal titles,

A glory that any would envy rose up from her family. 24

This caused the hearts of mothers and fathers throughout the empire,

To not care for the birth of a boy, but care for that of a girl. 26

90 The upper place of Li Palace rose up into blue clouds,

Where fairy music whirled about in the winds, to be heard everywhere. 28 mmmmm, mum^m^ °

Slow-moving songs and dances were captured by strings and flutes:

All day long our sovereign could never gaze on her enough. 30 mmwmmmm , nmmmmm °

Then the battle-drums from Yu-yang came, shaking the earth,

Suddenly breaking apart the melodies of the "Robe of Feathers and Rainbow Skirts."

From the nine tiers of the city's palaces rose up smoke and dust,

A thousand carriages of chariots, ten thousand cavalries moved off to the southwest. wmmmm±, wm^mm -

The Imperial banners fluttered, moving ahead then stopped,

Moving out west of the capital gates, more than a hundred miles. 36 /KM^mm^n ? mmmmmm^°

There the six armies would not budge, without any reason,

Until persuaded his moth-browed beauty would die in front of the horses. 38

Hairpins like flowers abandoned on the ground, with no one to collect them,

A kingfisher feather hair ornament, golden sparrows and the jade hair pick. 40

91 Our sovereign covered his face, helpless to save her.

Looking back, the blood and tears were flowing together. 42 mmmmwm, nmrnzmmm °

The yellow dust dispersed, the wind blew desolate,

The plank way into the clouds twisted around to climb up to the Sword Pavilion. 44 mmiUT'jrxn, mmm^B^m °

At the foot of the E-mei Mountain a few people passed,

Banners and flags shed no light, sunlight was slight. 46

The water of the Shu River is green, Shu Mountain is clear:

Our royal lord, morning and night grieved. 48

In the imperial palace, he glimpsed at the moon, colors that broke his heart,

In the night rain he heard the bells, sounds that broke his heart. 50

Heaven and earth revolved, the dragon chariot returned,

When they came to that spot he hesitated, and could not go on; 52

Beneath the mud under the Ma-wei Slope,

He could not see her jade face, the place where she died was empty. 54 mmmmm^, mmmmmm °

92 Our sovereign and ministers looked at each other, and soaked their clothes with tears,

Looking east to the capital gates, he trusted his horses to take him home. 56

When he returned, his pools and parks were as in the olden days,

There were lotuses in the Tai-ye Lake, and willows at Wei-yang Palace. 58 mwmm®mm, mma&FFmm ?

The lotuses looked like her face, the willows seemed like her brows,

Facing such scenes how could he help but weep? 60 mmMtrnttmH %kmm$mmm°

On days when peaches and plums blossomed in the breeze of spring,

At the moment the autumn rains and the wutong trees shed their leaves in season. 62 m^m^^m , mmmmupfm -

The West Palace and the Southern Compound were full of autumn grasses,

Falling leaves filled the stairs with red, and were not swept away. 64

The performers of the Pear Garden, their hair was newly touched with white,

Enunchs from the Pepper House, their blue eyebrows showed age. 66 9mmmmmm , mmmm^mm °

As fireflies flew through the twilight halls, he thought quietly of her,

The wick of his lonely lamp burnt out, and yet he would not sleep. 68 mmmmm&, IM^MMOT^ -

In the slow, slow beat of bells and drums began each long night,

93 In the bright and shining stream of stars, the sky was approaching dawn. 70

The roof-tile mandarin ducks were chill, the frost was bright and in layers,

His kingfisher-feather quilts were cold, for whom he was to be within? 72 ««£!« , mm^n^A^ °

Far away, life and death were departed throughout the years,

But her spirits would never find a way to once enter his dreams. 74 mm±m®&, tmmmmm •

A Taoist wizard of Ling-qiong was a voyager in the heavens

Who by the perfection of essence could contact the sprits of the dead. 76 fiimaEisffs, mni5±&mw)°

Moved by his constant, tossing longing,

Our sovereign sought out this necromancer to search diligently for her. 78 mmmmnm, ft^xmzzm °

Pushed aside the clouds and drove the air, rushing like lightning,

Up into Heaven, down into Earth to seek for her everywhere. 80 ±mmmmm , mmmpg^M, <•

But from the jade-blue sky above to the yellow springs below,

Within both murky places, he could nowhere to see her. 82

Suddenly he heard of a mountain of immortals on the sea,

94 The mountain lay in the misty realm of emptiness; 84

Grand towers rose up from the five-color clouds,

And in the midst of theses delights there were many graceful fairies; 86

Among them was one named "Most Genuine,"

With snowy skin and flowery appearance as if much could be seem with her. 88

At the western side of golden tower he knocked on the jade door,

And asked a little jade attendant to inform the Maid Shuang-cheng. 90

When she heard the Han court had sent an envoy from the Son of Heaven,

Within the nine-flowered hanging curtains, her soul was awakened from dreams. 92 mmmtrnwrn, mmmmmmm»

She grasped her dress, pushed aside her pillow, rose and lingered around,

Pearled foils and silver panels opened down winding halls. 94 mm^mmm, mm-wrim*

Her cloudlike coil half inclined to one side, she had newly-wakened from sleep,

Her flower headgear was not set straight as she came down to the courtyard. 96 wmmmmm, mmmm&m °

The wind blew upon her immortal sleeves and whirled them up,

As if this were like the dance of the "Robe of Feathers and Rainbow Skirts." 98

95 On her jade face from loneliness, the tears were streaming down,

Like a branch of pear blossoms bearing the rain of spring.

She restrained her emotions, fixed her gaze and thanked her lord:

"Once we parted our voices and faces were elusive to one another,

Cut off was the love that was shared in the Court of the Bright Sun,

Now days and months pass slowly in the Palace of Peng-lai. 104 mMrmmmm , ^fm^mm °

But when I turn my head to gaze down to the realm of the mortal world,

I do not see Chang-an, but only dust and fog."

She could only give the old things that were pledges of their love,

An inlaid box and a golden hairpin were to be taken back with the envoy. 108

"Of the hairpin I will keep one branch, of the box I will keep one half,

The yellow gold of the hairpin separated and the hinge of the box divided.

If only our love can be as firm as this golden hairpin and inlaid box,

In heaven or in the human realm we will meet again."

96 About to part, with passionate care, she charged him further with a few more words,

In these words was a vow only their two hearts knew: 114

"On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity,

It was midnight, with no one else there, we exchanged a secret vow: 116

That in the heavens we wished to become a pair of birds with joined wings,

And on the earth we wished to become branches that twine together." 118 ^m&x^mm mmmmmm •

Heaven lasts, earth endures, but sometime both will end,

But this everlasting sorrow will never finally end." 120

97